Despair - Alvin and the Chipmunks Fanfiction Part One
by BornToRock88
Summary: What happens when a boy with a dream meets his childhood crush? Warning: Content is adult.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: This story is MA+15 and above and contains adult content. ****I cannot stress this point enough. This is not for people under the age of 18.**

**The Chipmunks and Chipettes belong to Bagdasarian Productions and this story belongs to me.**

He was an anomaly to Jennifer. She could not figure out how someone who was not high in social standing and not popular could possess such a great physical appearance. Normally such good looks were reserved for the all American jocks with their sandy blonde hair, ice blue eyes, chiseled lantern jaw and perfectly white straight teeth. There was something different about Jamie Harrison and it bugged her. He somehow, with his dark hair, and dark eyes and bad boy persona was more attractive to her than the white bread boys she had been hanging around with. He was something she could not place or categorize in this world which depends so much on hierarchy and social standing, predicated largely on how much money your parents had, whether you were a cheerleader or a jock and therefore popular, or someone with aesthetically appropriate looks.

Paradise falls was a clean cut town that radiated the Californian ideal of beach bodies and celebrity worship. It based self-worth on the exterior, and somehow that was indicator of a person's internal worth. The town questioned people of foreign appearance, and most girls had the Ryan Gosling ideal of All American male perfection. The boys were only ever seen with blondes, and if a girl wasn't blonde she took out the peroxide or hair dying kit and made sure she was blonde. The town was an symbol of Bauhaus modernist design and architecture, most buildings sterile, white and a large block shape with black tinted windows, looking cold and industrial. Kitchens had self-closing draws, the toilets had heated seats and the dogs were all shiny Golden Retrievers with perfectly maintained coats, held behind perfectly painted white picket fences. 2.2 kids was the norm, and if you deviated you were looked at with a mixture of scorn and disgust. Oh, and you had to make sure your lawn was jade green, well manicured and your topiary bushes were fashioned in the form of majestic animals such as deer and lions. One had to keep up appearances to the point of insanity.

So here was Jamie, this kid who had no social etiquette, no interest in sporting endeavors, eyes and hair that looked foreign and a distinct hatred for the town which hated him. He was dangerous. A jock would push him and he would push back ten-fold. He carried a loathing for his birthplace that bordered on sociopathic.

Jennifer sat with her dyed blonde hair, normally a dark brunette with her size zero body, exact make-up application and an outfit that was by Chanel and cost possibly more than a small family sedan and put her fingers to her cherry red lips, thinking. _I cannot figure you out and I hate you for that. _She would think when looking at the boy who chose to sit alone at lunch and listen to music on his black walkman cassette, often with his eyes shut and looking disinterested in the world. She had played many pranks on him over the years, like taking his clothes when he was showering in the gym locker room, holding him down with her friends and shaving his head in the ninth grade, and cutting holes in the back of his swimming costume before a swimming carnival so his bare butt could be seen. She had been so mean to him that he looked at her with a mixture of mistrust and hatred. She would never tell him it was because she liked him, because she saw liking him as a failure. Logic dictated she must like the lighter hair, the blue eyes, the jock persona. The Paradise falls persona.

All Jamie had was a sketchbook, that he drew in, a small black A4 book littered with sketches and song lyrics. He had written mostly love songs, mostly tacky 80s songs by one-hit wonders and the occasional glam rock band power ballad. He dressed not in a football jersey of blue and white - the team colors for the Paradise Falls Bears, but a black baggy t-shirt, torn and faded blue denim jeans and combat boots. His hair was medium length, cut short at the back but long at the fringe. He slicked his dark hair back but it fell past his eyes. He rarely, if ever went to class and the teachers didn't care enough to coax him in or punish him for not going. He was a nobody to them, had no promise like the boys in the football them, and was someone most adults wanted to fade into obscurity, never to return.

Jamie normally would wait until fifth period and sketch in his book, using his leg pulled close to his chest as a makeshift desk. He used a Sharpie felt tip pen and a 2b pencil to bring his characters to life. Jennifer had always wondered what this mysterious young man drew in his book. He was a freak, so she suspected ritualistic killings or something from a horror movie. She did learn one day of his content inside the book, and it came about through one of her 'moments' in which she felt angry for being attracted to him.

She had brought her blonde, Barbie like friends along with their designer jackets in deep red or black, high miniskirts and thousand dollar high heel shoes along to witness the humiliation that would ensue. Jamie would remember that day. Every moment, because it was the moment his spirit was completely broken. The sky was a purple and orange haze in the afternoon, the distinct scent of peppermint candy mixing in with the intoxicating scent of female hormones that the girls gave off which surrounded him. He could smell both fear and sexual arousal in the girls hormones, and it made him both sick and aroused in reciprocation.

They had slapped his book out of his hands. He did nothing because he could never bring himself to hit a girl. He had punched some of the footballer jocks, once a teacher who made fun of him and once he took a baseball bat to the Physical Education teacher's prized black Harley 91 Fatboy motorcycle but he wasn't going to stoop so low as to hit a woman. He watched his sketchbook spill to the ground, multiple sketches of Brittany in different movement positions, nothing salacious or sexual, simply pictures in a sketched and dark 2B color that looked so well drawn they looked like animation cells. The girls laughed and kicked the book around as he went to pick it up. One had a can of coke, and turned it over his head, drenching his hair and neck, the brown and sticky syrupy liquid spilling over his clothes and making him feel dirty.

The same girl with the glimmering red and white aluminum can poured the brown liquid over the pages, saturating them and laughing. Then, they all laughed. His heart seemed to be throbbing in his ears from blind rage and he wondered what would happened if he blacked out. Was he capable of killing? He didn't know. These girls had belittled him since their first encounter with him in seventh grade, when those same girls were flat chested, wore brightly colored pink or acid green colored braces and were fighting a losing battle with acne. He never teased them during those phases, but they made sure to pick on him when he was carrying a little extra puppy fat, or when he got a bad haircut, or told him his ears stuck out and his teeth were crooked. He saw what they told him in the mirror, even though they lied and what looked back at him was more of a timeless male beauty that had been rarely seen in such a narrow minded and pathetic little racist and prejudiced town.


	2. In the Confines of My Room

Jamie didn't go home that day for a few hours after school. He continued to listen to his music, imagining a world where he was treated with some semblance of respect and girls of your dreams were a reality. Girls who treated you with respect and looked past your different exterior and saw what was underneath.

Jamie stayed back, the hours passing and the sky turning from a purple haze to pitch black. The night air felt icy, and his skin came out in goosebumps. It must have been six o' clock at night and he was still sitting in the school playground, hidden in a cement alcove. Inspiration struck him within thirty minutes or so and he hopped on his scuffed and worn double kick skateboard with its black grip tape on the top and Hookups stickers slightly torn from years of grinding against railing. The kind of stickers that depicted anime women with overly large breasts and hair in unnaturally bright colors, their clothing skimpy and leather in nature, the zipper slightly open in all the right places.

The steel trucks underneath the board, the piece which held the wheels was scratched beyond recognition, and his board made very unhealthy scuttling sounds as rode from the pebbled pavement of the school walkway and onto the smooth perfection of the tarred roads which led to either suburbia, an industrial estate or the built up city areas. The night wind caused Jamie's hair to flutter in front of his eyes, and he began to imagine things as he rode from the single white arc of overhanging street lights, past the pink, yellow, red, green and blue neon glows of the city with its fast food restaurants and nightclubs and then through the lush green elm trees with grey spidery tree trunks that signified suburbia.

He made it home, to his small blonde brick two storey home that despite having two levels was modest. It had an unpainted timber gate, and a very old black Labrador named 'Drucker' who had a little grey under his chin. He perked his head up and barked from his white painted timber kennel with the red roof, and knocked his water bowl over running to his master. Jamie laughed and patted the dog, who nuzzled its nose into his hip, making soft noises and wanting to play. He looked at the big bear of a dog and said, "If I could stay out here tonight with you I would." He sighed. He walked into his house, noting that the front door was unlocked. His mother a woman with rich brunette hair and with matching brown eyes sat in her red dressing gown, a fine satin, her slender arms crossed in front of an equally slender body. Jamie noticed she had painted her nails with some kind of lacquer. They were glistening and the house carried the scent of chemicals. He could easily see that he had aged her beyond what was considered fair, sure most kids aged their parents due to common stresses of being a teenager, but his sheer contempt for all authority had driven her insane. She understood that he was under a lot of pressure particularly to fit into the blonde perfection of Paradise Falls, but she wanted him to be able to move past it and be a more well adjusted young adult. Sulking in her view, was pointless and her son was doing just that.

"Do you have any idea what time it is?" She asked, a more rhetorical question, her voice husky and tired. "I don't know. I guess it must be late because its dark outside and you look pretty pissed." She shook her head angry at him and laughing in frustration, "No respect for your mother whatsoever," She said smiling and saddened. Jamie paused and shut his eyes, sighing, "Look mom, I am sorry but something bad happened today and I can't explain it. I wasn't out late to upset you." Jamie paused and noticed a black leather business suitcase with gold locks on it sitting in the polished timber hallway of the house. His stomach dropped, "Is dad home or away on business?" His mother shook her head, "You lucked out kid. He's away on business." Jamie felt his breath return to his lungs. His father was always fighting with him, all the time. If he found out Jamie was coming home this late from school he would face dire consequences. His father could not understand his son's rebellion, but more so he could not understand his son's obsession with a cartoon character. He desperately tried to understand it, wondering if his son was gay and picking an unattainable cartoon character who happened to be female to validate his heterosexuality. Nevertheless, his son was slipping away and he realized the angrier he got with his son the more that rift enlarged, but he couldn't help but be frustrated with his son, who used to be a beautiful little toddler who laughed all the time, now an angry young man who hated the world.

Jamie had gone into his room and put on the only music which seemed to calm him. He walked through the sea of dirty clothes, torn jeans and an assortment of Nintendo cartridges that showed beautiful cover art on them, past his purple and blue lava lamp and to his white painted Victorian era desk with its ornamental handles. Sitting atop this desk was an orange lava lamp and his black Sony MX-400 boom box stereo with dual cassette. Most kids at school had an iPhone or iPod to listen to music, but both a sense of nostalgia to older technology and more so lack of money dictated he used cassettes over mp3. He hit the green sideways triangle to signify 'Play' and he lay back on his Japanese styled black mahogany timber futon bed, it was a unique design that bowed in the centre and made him dip into the dark navy blue mattress. It was so warm that at night all he needed was a white bed sheet. Axl Rose was singing something from his 'Use Your Illusion II' album, something about 'talking to yourself, and nobody's home. You can't fool yourself, you came in this world alone' before a very labored and powerful guitar solo broke in by Slash.

The venetian blinds in front of his rectangular bedroom window let in slivers of light blue moonlight. He liked that. He seemed to like little things, like being in the confines of his room and pushing himself away from the world. He had a dart board, a real one taken from a bar that his uncle gave him that was around 60cm in diameter and novelty darts with naked women on them. He looked over at it and noticed he had made a massive dent in some blonde celebrities face that he had tacked to the board, and they no longer looked recognizable.

Jamie felt sad in these moments because he didn't really hate these celebrities, but he hated that they set an impossible standard for him to reach. He refused to die his hair and wear blue or green contact lenses. He had known some people who had. Even though the boy in question got chemical burns from the lens and has to be hospitalized for eye damage, the boy thought it was a good idea at the time to look like the rest of the paradise falls kids. You might say this is absurd to think kids stooped to these lengths, but if you in any way looked foreign or didn't fit the Aryan mould of lighter featured beauty you either had your head dunked in a toilet or were beaten to within an inch of your life.

Jamie was able to keep his distance from the other boys because he beat the head jock, Brett Morris badly. It was year 7, and they were playing a group game of dodgeball. The blonde jocks sat with their shirts off, playing as 'skins' but secretly enjoying showing off their well muscled and perfectly lean bodies while the outcasts, some too skinny, some slightly to grossly overweight chose to remain in the grey gym shirts. Some had inhalers, some had braces, some had too many pimples. Some of them had a deformed leg and couldn't walk properly. Didn't matter. Coach said the game was on, the game was on. The Skins were of course, trumping the outcasts, but Jamie knew they really were all just trying to hit him. Brett whispered to his friends and they all went to the coach's locker, withdrew a series of terracotta colored and incredibly heavy medicine balls and threw them at Jamie on the 'count of three!' four of the seven balls hit him and he felt every pounding blow. He somehow was still on his feet, and he remembered running alone the pine colored basketball court in the indoor gym, jumping on Brett and straddling his chest with his legs, bringing down flurries of punches. He remembered using both arms, swinging until Brett's mouth was bloody and he lost a tooth, that came out bloodied and grey like some grotesque piano key.

He remembered Brett screaming for him to stop, and unleashing a fury upon this jock who had spent most of the year dunking his head in the toilets, giving him wedgies or pouring drink or food down his back in the cafeteria. He had to be pulled off by some of the other jocks and the coach, who was a towering model of male perfection, blonde hair, big blue eyes, lantern jaw, mountains of muscle, looking more like a Captain America clone than a school coach. The coach probably wouldn't have stepped in if it was Brett beating up Jamie. Actually, Jamie was certain of it.

His Nintendo Entertainment System, a big two tone grey box that rarely worked and didn't read Nintendo cartridges very well sat looking at him like _Well, are you going to play me or not? You can't even get to level 2 in Contra, you suck. _He dismissed it and fished through his school bag, a military camouflage style backpack with one massive and chunky chrome zipper. He took out his warped and still slightly damp art book. The pages came out in clumped light brown chunks of coke stained, formless mass and he felt incredible despair at how his drawings were obliterated. Only one remained, of Brittany leaning forward and smiling, like she was looking into a camera her hands holding her dress down, her eyes joyful and curious at the person taking the photo. He had sketched her with tussled hair, some falling in curled kinks by her ears and her eyes. Her little chipmunk button nose looked almost as if it was twitching.

Jamie felt a sudden urge to investigate something. Whatever conclusion it led to he didn't know but he hoped it would achieve some kind of positive result. He touched the page of the book, and rubbed the nose of Brittany, which twitched again. He did it again and she sneezed. He felt his stomach drop and his head spin all at once. The inability to speak struck him with a finality that came out like he was dreaming or in the midst of a nightmare.

Suddenly the windows of the bedroom, both of them had slid open and air came blowing in. The pages of the book, no matter how destroyed blew up in a cyclical whirlwind and a figure began to appear. First it was just a black outline with no fill the body transparent, and a female form began to appear. There was a set of what looked like ballet slippers, covered partially by legwarmers, and a pair of tights. A little dress and then a frilly top. A head of kinked and curly hair, tussled and so distinctly 80s. Her face took a while to fill in as well as the little details like eyelashes, shading and color. The sheen of her hair came in last. She stood in front of him as a figure who had transcended the limitations of the artists page and possessed her own personality and character.

She looked around the room, her hair a caramel color, her clothes hot pink and perfectly clean. Her leg warmers were yellow and she had a purple hair band in her hair. She did have a little blue scarf on, a navy color because Jamie had drawn her that way. She looked down at it, looking frustrated, "Really? You had to draw me with something that clashes with the rest of my color scheme? You know how hard it is to pick out outfits. Seriously, boys cannot color match." She looked around the room and sighed, "And it looks like the boy who drew me is a slob too. This room is so dirty!" She began to walk to his DVD collection and flicked through a series of DVDs that were action movies, comedy movies and some that were more adult in nature. She pulled one out and gasped. The shocked face turned into disgust and he showed him the DVD she had picked up, one with a woman in an compromised position, bright blonde hair, unclothed and giving a sultry look to the camera. "Really? You've got to be joking." She said to Jamie. She put it back in the DVD collection and then walked past Jamie's body length mirror that was frameless and screwed into the back of his bedroom door. Skateboarder stickers reading VANS or Powell Boards littered the mirror as well as a few Hookups anime girl stickers. "Hard for a girl to see herself amongst these stickers. What are they anyway?" She turned her head from side to side, checking her complexion, tussling her hair. She turned to Jamie, "So, are you going to take me out for dinner or something? I'm starving."

Jamie was still speechless but somehow the words escaped, "Uh, you are just a figment of my imagination, just a dream." He laughed and ran his hands through his hair, tapping his head against the bedroom wall, which was made of drywall and making a hollow sound as he banged it. She kept looking at herself in the mirror, "Bang all you want but I'm not going away. Now are you taking me out or not? I'm not spending the whole night in this stupid bedroom." Jamie kept his head against the wall, stopping the banging, his eyes shut, "Okay, let's assume this is a dream. I need to believe that for sanity's sake." He kept his eyes shut, hoping she would disappear but also not. "How would I even take you out in public? You are a cartoon character!" She turned at the exclamation in his voice and then hopped up on his bed playfully, "Listen, I'm going out for dinner. I don't have any money and you probably do since this is your world. Either I walk out that door and find someone who will take me out or you can take me." Jamie held his hands up in defeat, "Alright, alright!" He said turning around. "Look, what about I make you something or order in?" She crossed her arms and looked at the ceiling, "You really need to take those posters of girls in bikinis off your ceiling." Jamie got frustrated, "Are you okay with that or not?" She made a long dramatic groan, "Ah! Alright." She pointed a soft crème colored digit at him, "But tomorrow you are taking me out, no ifs or butts about it." Jamie's mother yelled from downstairs, "Who are you talking to Jamie?!" She sounded still very angry with him, "No one mom!" He yelled back. "It's just the TV!"

Jamie snuck down the stairs, Brittany insisting on coming with him, "Your house is nice." She said to him, looking around, her bright blue eyes flashing in interest, "Your room is so ugly though." Jamie nodded, looking nervously around, "Yeah, so I've been told." Brittany put her hands on her hips, "Why do we have to whisper? It's stupid. It's like I'm a child or something." Jamie looked at her and even in the midst of possibly getting caught by his mother, he found her cute. She had a pouting look on her face, her cheeks red and flushed with frustration. He went to put his hand on her shoulder to calm her down and he felt an electric shock go through his body. He suddenly saw his form fade to white and black like a sketch and Brittany's did as well, losing color and shading. "Ow!" Brittany screamed and Jamie winced in pain. "What's going on?" Jamie's mother yelled, her feet pounding towards them. "Quick!" Jamie yelled pulling her back up the stairs and running down the hall, hiding in the narrow, ammonia smelling and damp darkness of the broom closet.


	3. Lessons

"Are we ever going to get something to eat?" Brittany asked. Jamie shushed her and they heard footsteps stop near the broom closet, through the slats of timber he saw yellow hallway light and his mothers red slipper covered feet, some kind of cheap shoe by Diana Ferrari. His mother muttered, "That boy is hopeless at the moment." Before walking back downstairs. She then yelled, "I'm going to bed. Make sure you eat some dinner Jamie. You're looking like a stick lately." Brittany rolled her eyes, "Even your mother wants us to eat." Jamie laughed at this nervously. "She's talking about me. I think if she saw you they would take her away in a straight jacket."

Jamie snuck down to the kitchen used the wall phone to dial for a Pizza Hut Pizza. "No anchovies, no meat, no salami, just capsicum and what? mushroom?" Jamie said relaying the order to the cracking voice of the teenager on the other end of the line. Brittany nodded smiling. "She then leant into the phone as Jamie was still on it, "No anchovies!" She yelled. Jamie shushed her again, eyes wide and in disbelief, "What are you trying to wake up my mom?!" He said in a loud whisper. Brittany looked through the fridge and opened the door to the battered white old Kelvinator to see a bottle of orange juice and coca-cola. She proceeded to take them out and said, "Glasses." Like a doctor asking for a scalpel. Jamie produced two glasses and Brittany made them a coke and orange juice cocktail. "Looks disgusting." Jamie said. She glared at him, "Look at how you decorate your room. Like you know about taste."

They sat at the island in the kitchen, the lights dimmed in case Jamie's mother suddenly came in for a glass of water or a midnight snack, which Jamie knew she was sometimes prone to do. His mother was rail thin, but ate lots of little meals throughout the day. The island was an orange tiled structure with a stainless steel cooktop and black iron gas jets. The island was littered with dog eared copies of 'Better Homes and Gardens' and the occasional magazine showing a celebrity so full of Botox their face looked like a puffer fish. Brittany sat tapping her index finger against her cheek, leaning into Jamie. "So, are you going to make some interesting conversation or are we just going to sit here like a bunch of slack jawed idiots?" Jamie was still in shock, "Okay, uh how did you get here?" She shrugged, "Beats me. All I know is that I saw what those girls did to your book and to me and that's really when I started to feel alive." Jamie rubbed his chin in thought, "So are you the real Brittany or just a drawing of her?" Brittany took a sip of her drink, "Oh, there is only one Brittany Miller and that's me. There's no doubt about that." She looked blankly at Jamie and then said in a flat tone, "You know, you shouldn't be such a wimp." Jamie was taken aback, but smiling at the novelty of talking to what was some kind of hallucination, "What?" She shook her head, "You know what I mean. You let those girls walk all over you. Do you know they would like you more if you started acting more like a man and less like a boy?"

Jamie put his head over his arms which were crossed looking down. "It's not that easy. If you'd ever seen my school, you'd see that I am an outcast. I'm like the only dark featured guy in the entire school. The other kids either wear contacts or dye their hair." Brittany looked at her nails, seemingly disinterested. "I could tell you that you are handsome but that's pointless. Giving you compliments isn't going to fix your problem. It's you attitude." Jamie smirked slightly, "What? You think I'm attractive?" She sighed and said, "Yes, but don't let that go to your head. Let's just focus on fixing this problem shall we?" Jamie became thoughtful in that moment, "It's not a problem because school will end in two years and I'll be free." She gave him a dry look of _come on _and then said, "Nope. You will probably carry this outcast attitude well into college, or your working life." She paused, "What happened to the little boy who was so happy and cute and had his little Chipmunks cassette. The one who used to lock himself in his parent's stereo cabinet and listen to 'Girls of Rock and Roll'? You had confidence then." Jamie looked shocked, "How do you know about that?" He then answered his own question, "Of course." He said sadly. "You are just a figment of my imagination. You are from my mind so that's why you know what goes on in there." She ran her hands through her hair and growled in anger, "I don't know how many times I have to tell you. I am not a figment of your stupid imagination!" He held up his hands, "Alright, alright. I am sorry." She glared at him, her blue eyes flickering and her pink pouting lips curled in a grimace. "And don't hold up your hands like that, like you are warding off some mentally insane person. It's insulting. Just treat me with more respect." Jamie nodded.

Jamie had waited out on the front porch as the time grew closer to collect the pizza. Brittany waited with him, but it was too cold for her. He tried to cover her in a coat jacket he had found in the closet and she was able to wear it, but the moment his skin touched hers when he put on the coat, that surge of pain went both through them and Brittany's color changed to a brief moment of black and white. The red Pizza hut Toyota Hilux Utility with a dented fender and a white cabin built onto the back pulled up smelling of diesel and missing a hubcap. The driver got out, and Brittany snuck inside behind the door. Jamie wanted to wait outside because he didn't want the pizza delivery boy to ring the doorbell and wake his mother up. She had made some hideous lasagna but Jamie wasn't a major fan of cheese. Ironically he was eating a pizza, but he would most likely pull the toppings off and just eat the tomato sauce laden base. It wasn't a male delivery 'boy' but a girl, a pretty brunette with blue eyes, a doll like face and much shorter than Jamie. She mustn't live in Paradise falls but instead the neighboring town because Paradise falls didn't normally hire brunettes. It's kind of an unspoken rule here. She smiled at him, "Here's your pizza. It's 13.50." Jamie fished out some greenbacks, all crumpled and worn, and she took them." She paused, "You gave me too much." He smiled back, "Think of it as a tip." She looked at him and tilted her head, "So, got anything fun planned tonight that requires a pizza? Friends over?" Jamie smiled, "Nope. Don't have any friends. What about you?" She looked back at her Hilux which was idling, its red brake lights glowing and its motor puttering with that distinct diesel sound. The grass around the two figures was laden with icy night moisture, and it glistened clear on the jade green blades. "Nope, just delivering pizzas and then an early night before some exams. You know how it is. Are you in college?" She asked him, "Nope." He said, "Still a wee boy." She laughed and waved him off as he walked inside. "Goodnight and enjoy your pizza!"

Brittany waited on the other end of the door, looking through the partially frosted glasses. "She liked you, you know." Brittany said. Jamie said simply, "I doubt it. She was just being friendly. It's a job requirement." Brittany rolled her eyes, "You're a job requirement." She said. He looked at her, "That doesn't even make any sense." She snatched the pizza box off him, "Oh yeah? Well your views on women don't make any sense. Don't tell me you know how women think when I am one."

They sat at the island in the kitchen again, the pizza looking like a symbol of Italy with its red and green capsicum, much like the Italian flag. The deep dish crush was thick and golden, swelling with oil. It radiated that tomato and herb like scent that only Pizza Hut could seem to make. Brittany ate two slices and Jamie picked slowly at one slice the whole night, still too nervous to eat. "Can I ask about Alvin?" Brittany poured herself just a plain orange juice. "Sure, not that it's any of your business but I guess if I'm giving you advice you have a right to hear my stuff." She absent mindedly twirled some caramel coloured hair around her finger and looked at the long strands, "Alvin is - Alvin. What do you want to know." Jamie considered, "Well do you love him?" Brittany felt the urge to slap Jamie for asking such a personal question but was able to withhold it. It was a miracle on her part. _How do I answer this? _She asked. It occurred to her she didn't need to justify herself to him, but she wanted to talk about it all the same. "Yes, I guess you could say I love him. He can be a stupid jerk and extremely inconsiderate. Sometimes that's attractive because he is so sure of himself, but it can also be frustrating." Jamie felt slightly jealous, but he knew such feelings were stupid. "Do you see yourself with him in the future?" she nodded, chewing on the crust of the pizza. "Ugh. The oil in the crust is too much. Not good if you are watching your weight." She threw it down on her red plate. Jamie looked at her, "You don't need to lose weight. You look great." She blushed slightly and then quelled the feeling, "You think so? Thanks. I try." She thought, "How you are talking to me now is how you should talk to girls." She said. Jamie was confused, "What? Complimenting them?" Brittany shook her head, "No. Sometimes complimenting looks like you are just trying to 'get with them' what you want to do is just be calm and be conversational like you are now."

Jamie thought about it, "Well I think I should go to bed. I've got school tomorrow. I expect you to be gone when I wake up, because after all this is just a dream." Brittany took one last bite of pizza, "Yeah keep telling yourself that sweetie." She looked at him, "So where do I sleep?" Jamie shrugged, "Well...I'm not sure." she slapped her knees and got off the black leather stool with the chrome frame she was sitting on and said, "Great! I'll have your bed and you sleep on the floor." Jamie nodded, "Yeah alright."

The night moved slowly. Jamie was unable to sleep, unable to piece together the logic of what had transpired where a sketch became reality. He would investigate this further, but ironically he welcomed the company. In a non-sexual way, her presence was welcomed. She was someone to talk to. Even if she was just a hallucination, he prayed she would somehow be able to stick around. Brittany slept silently and quietly, just moments ago insisting that Jamie strip the bed and put on a new cover. "You watch all those dirty movies, who knows what kind of stains are on these sheets?" She said with a disgusted look on her face. She the sheet in her hand and dropped it, "Actually I don't want to know."

She seemed to dislike him intensely and it hurt him because he had loved her character since he was a small child. He was the first childhood crush he ever had and he even had his mother send out fake wedding invitations to family relatives because Jamie Harrison was going to marry Brittany Miller. He remembered what made him fall in love with her was her song, a cover of Whitney Houston's 'I wanna Dance With Somebody' and as a child he thought it was so romantic it made him swoon. She lay in a heap on his bed, small and impossibly beautiful. He looked over at her from the floor. Her caramel colored hair was in its trademark kinks and looking bushy. She had her body side on, her eyes shut and her breath coming in soft, slow motions.

He was able to fall asleep finally, and when he woke to the light of the morning, Brittany was already up and prodding him awake. "Hey Jamie, will you take me shopping? That is your name isn't it?" She asked. Jamie almost screamed because she had what looked like light blue exfoliator on her face, covered in a granular like texture. She was holding cucumber slices in her other hand and Jamie suspected she must have gotten up, gone to the kitchen and decided she wanted a facial treatment, "You went downstairs!" He yelled, then remembered to silence his voice, "You went downstairs without me?" He whispered. She nodded. "There was no one down there." She had a towel wrapped around her head, one of her mother's towels that costs hundreds of dollars and she left only for guests that came to stay. It was a plush white towel. "Do you know how expensive those towels are?" Brittany looked up at the wrap above her head, "Yeah they certainly feel expensive. Miss Miller doesn't have stuff like this in our house." She was dressed in a little white dressing gown, the bottom folded up so she didn't trip over. "That's my mom's!" Jamie exclaimed, "She'll be so angry!" Brittany took the towel off, her hair falling down past her shoulders, tangled and looking wild. "Well, it's too late now. Ever thought of painting your room? This baby blue all over the walls is hideous."

She looked at him, "No, you're taking me shopping." She said to herself, almost as if he was having an argument with him in her mind. She held a hand up to him when he went to open his mouth, "I don't want to hear it." She pondered, "Or you can take me to school and show me these hopeless girls that pick on you." Jamie looked through his window and noticed his mother's black 300 SL 1980 model Mercedes, with its faded paint and broken bits of chrome was edging out of the drive. _Thank god _Jamie thought. She worked on Friday afternoons at the local delicatessen as well as Mondays. It was a hard and thankless job, especially cleaning out the dirty trays full of chicken fat and off cuts, as well as difficult customers she had to deal with. Jamie felt sorry for her, but he was very distant with his mother lately. Now, Brittany's presence meant he had to be more distant. She was very much a strong presence now in his life. She appeared to have survived the night and existed today. "Where do you want to go shopping Brittany?" Jamie asked defeated. _Hopefully people don't freak when they see her._

Jamie figured it out. He would make her like some kind of interactive hologram. He strapped a wrist watch to his hand that he no longer wore, an old neon blue and black Baby G digital watch, the kind that has a digital break dancing man on the screen and strapped a pocket calculator to the top. "What are you doing?" Brittany asked learning over as he worked as his small desk, which housed his old Compaq Pentium II computer, a dusty and unused Amiga A500 and blocky shaped retro computer with a floppy disk drive and a series of little mini skateboards called 'Tech Decks'. The table was once painted white, but now scuffed and looking worn from mistreatment by a teenage boy. There were coffee rings in dark brown littering the cable and a few stray Sprite and Fanta cans strewn like fallen soldiers everywhere. Jamie then took out this small Solar pad he had bought that charged AA batteries and then strapped that as well to the watch. It looked silly but it would work. He wanted people to think Brittany was the holographic figure. It was ludicrous, but her presence was ludicrous enough.

"This is what I'm doing." He finally replied to Brittany who was tapping her foot impatiently. "It's a hologram - well a fake hologram machine. It will allow you to go outside. The only downside is that you must be with me at all times and you can't touch anything because it will look suspicious. Like if you go clothes shopping I have to pick them out." Jamie slapped his head, "Oh god. I'm going to look so stupid walking with a supposed hologram picking out girls clothes. Brittany shook her head, "Take the watch off. It's a stupid idea - I'm going outside."

She had made as if to go outside but Jamie grabbed her arm and the electric shock hit them both again. Her form went black and white, a series of wild and untamed sketches, and she cried out. He began to go transparent and he felt like he was dying. She broke free of his grasp, "You can't keep me here!" she ran down the timber polished stairs, past where his mother kept a series of porcelain dogs on a wicker shelf and out the door. Jamie watched as she changed. She lifted up off the ground slightly and white glowed around her body, the clothes she was wearing fluttering. Her head was tilted up to the sky, her eyes shut. He watched as she grew taller before his eyes, her chipmunk features changing to human eyes and nose, and ears. Her hair was blonde much lighter than her caramel colored hair and her eyes were still blue. She still looked cute, but she was much taller, around 5''8 or so and slender in build. She looked like a girl of about 19 or so, with cherry red lips and her clothes were just a pair of denim jeans and a pink top. She looked down at herself, shocked and terrified, "What?!" Jamie was relieved no one was around to witnesses this, but he still couldn't believe it himself. She panicked and then ran inside the house, and in a white flash she returned to the cartoon Brittany Miller. "Uh, Jamie -" She began, "Any ideas why this might be happening?" Jamie still was half awake with his crumpled slept in clothes. "Don't ask me. I'm still wondering why you are here at all. Look at it this way, at least you can go outside now." She considered, "Yeah but I'd still rather be me than some freakish looking human." He replied, "Yeah but would you rather be a four foot Cartoon Chipmunk. Who knows? If you looked like that outside you might get taken by the army and dissected. Something freaky." She paused, "Was I pretty in human form?" Jamie nodded, "Yeah, I guess." Brittany scowled at him, "You guess?" Jamie nodded. "Well I think you are pretty in any form. Look, let's not get sappy Brittany. Odds are I'm skipping school to take you shopping and I don't mind if that's what you want. I'm not exactly on the honor roll at school either, so I'm not losing any marks. I already suck." She looked around at her cartoon body, and down at her butt, "Yeah, alright. I'm going to miss this body though."

Jamie got dressed and Brittany insisted she choose his clothes. "Look, you want to get a girl's attention right?" She said to him. She picked out a nicer white t shirt that wasn't so baggy, "You have a nice chest, you should show it off." and she picked up jeans which weren't as baggy and more tailored. She then sat on the green tiled bench of the 1950's style bathroom and as he stood, she styled his hair. "You don't want the Justin Bieber look. You want it slicked back with a few strands in front of your eyes. You want to look clean. He felt like an Elvis reject when he looked at himself, but he listened. "You have nice eyes too. You should be showing them." She then said, "You're a bit of a dork though. We need to work on that."

Jamie walked out the door with her, "But isn't Justin Bieber popular with girls?" She gave a look of _look, just shut up _to him and said, "Yeah 13 year old girls. You are a 16 year old right? Turning 17? You want girls your age." Jamie said, "Uh Brittany, if you are going to transform then you should go out the back of the house where no one can see you and meet me out the front. Don't worry about our dog. He's tied up and he doesn't bite." Jamie waited with her as the white flash consumed her body and she turned into the 19 year old girl from the four foot Chipette. She reminded Jamie very much of this pretty actress on a soap opera called _Bold and the Beautiful _that played Hope Logan. She was a bubbly and doll like looking blonde. Brittany was in her pink top and jeans and she said, "Walk with me. You need to learn how to be around girls." She looked at him, "Oh and tuck in your shirt. Some guys think they look great looking rough around the edges, but most girls don't like that."


	4. To The Mall!

They walked and took a shortcut through the national park which led through the back of West Paradise falls and led to the local shopping mall. The day was warm and the sky perfectly blue, devoid of clouds. They walked under a tree canopy, only slivers of light hitting their bodies. Brittany's eyes seemed to be the only thing Jamie could see in the shadows under the canopy.

"What is it like living with Jeanette and Eleanor?" Jamie asked, "It's alright. Eleanor can be irritating at times. She gets competitive with me and I don't like someone thinking they are better than me, but I do love her and I understand what it's like to want the spotlight. Jeanette is easier to be around. She's a bit of a klutz but I love her all the same. I still feel guilty that I made her wait for me all day when I went shopping and she got stuck with this science assignment. I was meant to help her."

"Sisters" Jamie said, "That's the episode." Brittany shrugged, "Whatever. You call them episodes, I call them my life. Well, that's what they are like." Jamie asked, "What about Miss Miller?" Brittany looked up at the tree canopy ceiling and laughed, "Miss Miller? How could I explain Miss Miller? She's incredibly sweet and I love her. I don't like when she makes me do household chores and when she thinks she knows more about performing than I do, but there's not much I can do, she's a stubborn woman." She turned to Jamie, "Why do you think that I'm transforming when I walk outside?" Jamie shrugged. "I don't know, I still think you are a figment of my imagination and my mind is just making these rules up." She shook her head, "I'll prove to you I'm not fake. Your dog barked at me. When we run into some people I'll go straight up and talk to them." The breeze whistled gently and a lyrebird called out, but it was amazingly quiet another than that. The odd whoosh of a car could be heard near the overpass above on the road at the end of the park, but it was faint.

"What about when I touch you?" She said. "It hurts right? You can't be imagining that." Jamie nodded, "I guess."

They made their way to the built up district of the city, denoted by light grey and perfectly maintained paths and walkways, and the neon glow of fast food restaurants, a massive two storey McDonalds with a glowing golden arch, a bright primary colored kids play area complete with slippery dip and monkey bars, and the massive brown brick structure was a monolith in size. It was fenced off by a green steel gate and it look relatively empty. There was a single storey, trademark Pizza Hut next to it that looked slightly more busy but much less impressive that its junk food brother. There was an old KFC with a very creepy Colonel Sanders Face smiling, the paint faded, the drive through looking busy. The city had a much more popular Subway and was littered with a sea of adult bars that were black windows and littered with posters of women's bodies made into silhouettes. The words 'XXX' 'Live Girls' and 'Free Sex' were everywhere. The city was a sea of grey cement and blue tinted windows, that reflected the purple orange rays that the sun refracted onto them. The vehicles driving by and parked were a veritable smorgasbord of rainbow metallic paint, all somehow different. The air carried the smell of hamburgers, chocolate, pollution and clothes fabric, a strange mix. Brittany walked up to a stranger, a balding man in a business suit with bushy eyebrows and thick magnified glasses and said, "Excuse me, do you have the time?" He looked at her, taken aback by her beauty and looked at his shiny silver Tag Heuer analog watch, "No problem Miss, it's 10:00am." She smiled at him and he blushed, "Why thank you sir."

Jamie stood open mouthed, "Wha- what? People can see you?" Brittany smiled, "Sure seems like it." Brittany stood shocked in the centre of the street, her hands by her sides, hands clenched into fists, "Is that - you're shopping mall?" She pointed to something which shocked her. "Yeah," I smiled, "Not bad huh?"

It was a massive white rendered brick building built in the 1930's art deco style. It had rounded edges on the corners and one of those amazing podium rises at the top that are multi-tiered. The windows were rounded, multi-painted and a beautiful light blue tint. It was set back amongst well manicured and perfect hedge maze gardens littered with red roses, yellow daffodils and white tulips. There was incredible black wrought iron gates that stood fifteen feet high, and the big double door gate was open for the public to drive their cars through. This was the upper class area of the town, black Mercedes AMG SL 500 Convertibles, Red and canary yellow Lamborghini LP640s and sleek Ferrari's with beachside blondes inside them with men twice their age could be seen driving in. Brittany and Jamie walked up the surprisingly steep hill. Even the hill was like something out of an overdone Beverly Hills themed movie. Brittany expected Alicia Silverstone and her cronies from 'Clueless' walk past in their designer outfits. She walked inside, past the beautiful gardens that had timed sprinklers and grounds keepers in white satin outfits maintaining them.

They walked through the bronze framed revolving circular turnstile doors into the immaculate first level. The floors were black and white tiles, each tile big enough for a person to plant to spread their feet a leg width apart. The centre of the first floor had a beautiful multi-tier sandstone fountain which lit up neon blue at the bottom and was full of goldfish. Jamie always wondered if the fish got sick of the light in the fountain, but then again he always thought too much. Brittany almost died. There was a man playing a polished black Steinway piano, something upbeat and classical, dressed in top and tails - a classic tuxedo. He even had a top hat on. Everyone looked like a movie star, the men looked well groomed and handsome and the women looked like runway models. The stores were one or two name basis and enough to have gravitas. Chanel. Prada. Louis Vuitton. Names which signified taking out a small loan just to buy a handbag.

Brittany made her way into Prada and looked through an assortment of black and crème leather Sports bags. She flicked through mumbling to herself, "Too big, handles would be too tight, not enough compartments, color is wrong." Jamie leant against a bag rack, a large revolving one and almost knocked it over, "Will this take long?" Jamie asked. Brittany shook her head, "Nope, I know what I want." She pointed to a bag that was hot pink, with black chrome straps and was marked down from $10,000. "You're kidding." Jamie said. If he was an anime character a sweat drop would have come down his brow signifying stress and frustration. She looked at him, "Look I have an idea. Go guy a pad of paper and a pencil." Jamie looked at her puzzled, "Just do it." Jamie nodded, and as she continued to look returned with a small white plastic bag from a Newsagent and a small blue lined A4 pad and 2b pencil the type he normally drew with. "Draw me a hundred dollar note." He laughed, "Oh, I see where you are going with this. That's not going to work." She frowned, "I'm here aren't I? Just give it a try." He drew a one hundred dollar note to the best of his ability, sketching an apt likeness to one Benjamin Franklin. Jamie tried from memory to gauge what it looked like and remembered the time he did have a one hundred dollar note when he saved up to buy his skateboard. He drew it and Brittany reached down on the page and rubbed her fingers over it. Like some kind of strange portal a fresh $100.00 note came out from the page, looking perfect like it had just come from the pressing machine. Jamie gasped and Brittany hid behind a large cluster of black leather bags that were discounted to $2,000.00 and pulled almost twenty thousand dollars in cash out. "This is nuts." Jamie said running his hands through his hair, messing up the combing job Brittany had done on it. She went over to the clerk, a woman in a white power suit with black trim on the pockets, her hair pulled back impossibly tight on her skull, her face sharp and angular. Her makeup looked more like a rodeo clown than a typical make up application, and she looked disinterest. "I want that bag." Brittany said pointing at it. "Miss, that bag is $10,000." Brittany nodded, "I know." The woman took a long drawn out sigh but also was amused."You seriously have the money?" Brittany pulled out the cash and fanned it out like a deck of cards. "You bet I do." The woman behind the glass desk almost fainted. As she trembled, her gold jewellery clattered on her body, her bangles and African themed necklace clattering.

Brittany walked out of Prada with a brand new bag, some suspicious looks, but what could they do to stop her. She didn't look like some juvenile kid with ample amounts of money. She looked like a 19 year old, beautiful blonde who perhaps was like a Paris Hilton with an insanely rich father. Store clerks and assistants had seen those types before, but normally they reached into their Chihuahua filled purse and produced a cheque or used a gold Visa Credit Card.

"Let's get something at the food court." Jamie said, still shaken. Brittany went to hand him a wad of cash as they sat down outside a McDonalds and took a speckled laminate table with a menu built into the top. "No, I'd rather spend my own money." She looked at him hurt and puzzled, "Why?" He leant in and whispered to her, "That's just wrong Brittany. It's not real money." She sighed, "Alright. Okay then just get me a Vanilla Thick shake and an Apple pie." Jamie nodded and took the line. Brittany attracted the odd stare as she admired her new bag, because she was simply breathtaking. Her face was like a doll, the similarity of the cute chipette still there, but translated into a pleasing human form. Her hair spilled golden around her shoulders, her blue eyes oceanic and varying in shades of blue from the inner to outer rim of the retina. Her nose was only slightly upturned, and button like, her lips cherry red and full pouting in shape, like a sultry model from yesteryear. She had the look that men went to war for. A very sleazy guy with ash blonde hair, who had mountains of lean muscle and the face of Apollo came over, flashing a white million dollar smile, his Tommy Hilfiger polo shirt tucked into bootcut jeans. He had strong biceps, not too big, but enough to inspire security. He sat in Jamie's chair and said, "Hi, I'm sorry to bother you, but I couldn't help noticing you were on your lonesome." Brittany gave him a sarcastic smile, "Well you noticed wrong. My boyfriend is in the line getting my food." She pointed to Jamie, who was facing the other way, looking at the brown light box that depicted pictures of perfectly designed hamburgers on sesame seed buns, next to golden fries and oversized thick shakes and soft drinks. He smirked and leant into Brittany, his cologne strong and primitive. "Come on, that little dweeb? How about you trade up to a real man. Look, here's my number." He flashed a card which showed a wonderful looking font with serif tips, emerald green on an eggshell colored card. The card had a texture like rough feel to it, and this was intended to show the roughness of one's masculinity.

Brittany took the card and then smiled, tearing it up. His smile faded, "You bitch." He muttered working himself up, "You stupid fucking bitch." Brittany smiled, "I know how to get rid of you." He leant into her, about to grab her shoulders, "How?" He growled and his smile returned, looking sadistic. "You would be lucky to be with me sweetie." He said to her. She started to yell, "Rape! Rape!" He jumped out from his chair, looking around. The crowd murmured. He looked at everyone to say _It's alright it's just a joke _flashing his million dollar smile and then in a sudden panic running off into the crowd and out of sight.

Jamie ran over and out of the line, "Are you alright?" His eyes were darting around the crowd, showing genuine concern, "Who was that guy and what the hell happened?" She looked at her nails comically, "Oh nothing. Just a guy who tried to pick me up." Jamie winced in surprise, "So you yell 'Rape'?" She smirked, "Well it got rid of him didn't it?" Jamie murmured, "Yeah I guess." He looked back at the line, "Are you sure you're okay. Do you want to go home. You can wait in the line with me if you're worried." She looked at him reassuringly, "I'm not worried Jamie. Just get our food before my stomach eats itself."

Jamie returned with a brown plastic tray which held some kind of Monopoly McDonald's promotion, a large Vanilla Thickshake a Large McChicken Meal and a coke, the Apple pie sitting in its little cardboard case smelling enticing to Brittany. She started to drink and Jamie went to reach for his burger and to unwrap it from the paper. She smacked his hand, "Hey!" He said, "What's that for?" She smiled and leant into him, "I want you to ask that girl out two tables down." Jamie looked puzzled, "What? Where?" He pointed past his shoulder and he turned around to see a girl with blondish brown hair, grayish blue eyes and a very distinctive and pretty face. She was slim, but curved, and sat in a pink hooded jumper and black leggings. She was drinking an Iceberg smoothie, one of those blue ice drinks with vanilla ice cream on top. "I can already tell you how this is going to play out." Jamie said, "She'll say no." Brittany shook her head and waved him off, "Just ignore that for the moment. Do you think she's pretty?" Jamie looked over his shoulder again and noticed that she did look at him, give a soft smile and returned back to drinking, looking around the food court, absent mindedly playing with her bright blue flip top phone. "Yeah she's gorgeous, but that's the kind of girl that makes fun of me at school. The perfect ones." Brittany said, "Look, just try this. Go up to her, ask to sit down. Always ask to sit down. Don't assume you can." Brittany thought of that creepy guy who loved himself who hit on her moments ago. _What a moron. _Brittany continued, "Ask to sit down, then tell her this..."

Jamie walked over, armed with the information Brittany provided him. He stood in front of the girl. _Don't absent mindedly touch yourself or comb your hair. Project confidence. _She had said. The girl looked at him, "May I sit down?" She looked at him blankly but smiled for a brief moment. Jamie didn't know if she did it out of social convention and obligation or if she really liked him. _Don't second guess yourself. _Brittany had also reminded him. "Hi, this is going to sound weird, but obviously I don't know you, but I think you are really cute. I could come up with some cheesy pick up line or something but you would probably see through it." _Don't slouch, but don't lean in too much. You don't want to appear sleazy _her words echoed. _Be confident _he reminded himself "I was wondering if would like to go out sometime. It's up to you though." _Don't be desperate. Leave the option open to her. _She paused and considered, "Yeah, why not?" She smiled, the grey flashing in her intricate blue eyes. She was very beautiful, and he was attracted to her but also felt an attraction to Brittany. He almost said _What? Really? _But he didn't want to be desperate. She took his battered old black Nokia 3210 and entered her number on his phone. "Call me" She said. He got up and said, "I'm Jamie by the way, Jamie Harrison." He shook her hand softly and she smiled pleasantly, "Sarah. Sarah Bennett."

Jamie felt like he was walking on air. Girls seemed to reject him left, right and center but it wasn't his looks, but his attitude. Perhaps he wasn't as ugly as the girls at school made him out to be. Brittany sat back in her chair, chewing her apple pie looking smug. "Told you." He smiled and took his chair. He looked very handsome in this moment, with this long and slicked hair, not slicked too much and with the right volume, and the appearance of tight muscle under his white t-shirt. "How did you know I got her number?" He said beaming. She shrugged, "Well you are smiling like an idiot so I guess it's easy to say you succeeded." She took another bite of her bubbly crusted golden apple pie and smiled to herself. "I'm curious to know." Jamie asked, running an absent minded finger on his tray of food, moving around a lukewarm hot chip that felt crusty with salt. "Do you like me at all?" Brittany took a long swallow of her pie, hoping to delay the answer. She knew the last thing Jamie needed was rejection, even after a self-esteem boost as that girl saying 'Yes' to a date with him just moments ago. He was the kind of boy who got easily deterred, who carried hurt and allowed it to disfigure his social interactions with people.

Truth be known, she did like him but what could she do? She liked him from the first moment she saw him. He had a warmth that softened his already attractive features, and when he smiled bashfully his whole face changed. She had done his hair the way she liked, but even with his untamed locks that framed deep and dark mysterious eyes she still could understand his pure animal magnetism. She was sixteen, a choice made by Jamie who had romantic notions even when he drew her. He was sixteen, and she knew this was intentional. Still, he didn't push her, as most girls did find clingy guys to be a turn off. "I like you, but." Jamie took a chip and began to ate it as she spoke, "Here it comes," He said, his mouth slightly full but he made sure to cover it. He expected to be shot down. "Jamie, I like you but - look, I find you attractive but how would a relationship work? We can't even touch each other and someday I will have to return to my world, you know that."

He nodded, "I understand. I won't push - it's okay." She reassured him, "You aren't pushing but you really can be a stubborn little asshole. You believe that the whole world is against you and that somehow I am the answer to your problems, because I'm not from here." He looked flat at that, "I guess you are right Brittany." He put on a fake smile, "How about I finish this food quick and we can go shopping?" He was making an effort to end this exchange on a lighter note, but she wasn't going to let this go."You really need to listen to me and start understanding what I'm telling you." She got up with her new bag, "I'm going shopping."


	5. Getting to know you?

Jamie reached and grabbed her shoulder before realizing _My god this is going to hurt. I can't touch her without the electric shock _but this time, nothing happened, almost as if her human body counteracted the divide between the cartoon world and the real world. She paused and span around, her shining blonde hair whirling with her doll like face. "It doesn't hurt." She said. She stopped and took her seat again, "Why do you - what do you think is happening?" Brittany asked, looking at her hands, turning them over to look at her palms. "Touch my hand again." She said, nervous and excited. She felt his touch and somehow it was more than confirmation of her existence in this world. She could feel a different kind of electricity when he touched her, not painful but welcomed. She felt, off-balance vulnerable when he ran the coarseness of his hands over her fingers. She didn't like it. Logic dictated many things to her. Even for a girl such as Brittany Miller who ran on impulse, she knew like her more logical sister Jeanette that somehow the mind must overrule the heart in these matters.

She felt things which she couldn't explain, feelings she normally reserved for Alvin Seville. Even those feelings however were unexplored compared to these. It was almost as if she could breathe in his scent, consume him and that his touch was nowhere near enough. She began to understand how when you looked in someone's eyes and time passed without you knowing, it wasn't just a lame comment made in romance novels. She had to squash these feelings before they developed further, "Uh, I'll meet you in Chanel." She said simply. "You know where that is right?" Jamie asked her, "Do you need me to take you there?" She held up a warning hand and looked away from him. "Yes I know where it is, look I just need to go for a moment."

She kept her head down, walking to the store, almost knocking a woman over walking with her uncoordinated toddler dressed in a primary colored jumpsuit. "Hey!" The woman yelled at Brittany. Brittany disappeared into the crowd of people, past the beautiful fountain in the centre of the art deco lobby and found herself in Chanel. She flicked nervously and distractedly through the clothing, an assortment of jackets, halter tops and vests. There were some turtle neck sweaters and she was interested in getting a pink one. She picked out a pink one made of cotton and another which was black. _Why are you acting like such a wimp? _She asked herself. _You are the greatest girl to ever walk the earth. You are Brittany Miller. No one else compares, you know that? Why are you letting that dork get to you like this? _She shut her eyes and composed herself for a moment. She bought herself the tops and walked out of the opulence of the store and saw him there, leaning against the fountain, his white shirt clinging to his form, surprisingly muscular and firm for a slender teenager. His arms were crossed over his strong pectoral muscles, his biceps curled and looking strong. The light shone down from the arched glass roof above and as he looked at her, she saw a light brown flicker in those dark eyes as he looked at her. She really hated him and cared about him all at once, almost as if the world was a mess and the only constant was her desire to be around him. He radiated a level of despair and melancholy that somehow made her want to fix him. He was a true bad boy in the sense of the world. It wasn't the poser look you saw from many boys aiming to get girls attention, he was a tortured soul.

She walked over to him, "We need to talk."

They had walked out the rear entrance of the expansive shopping centre, past the white rounded rendered brick walls and through the pewter gate which was an intricate patchwork of squares of different shapes made into a 1930's style pattern. The sun greeted them with incredible warmth, casting and orange haze. "You're making me feel weird and I don't like it." She said to him simply. "We can only be friends okay?" He reflected on this, "Yeah, that's no problem Brittany, you're the one making a big deal of this." She felt the need to discuss her possible returning to her world, to enforce to him that she didn't belong here. "Look, we need to figure out how I get back to my world. " Jamie gestured with his hands, "I don't know. I wish I could help but I'm just as surprised as you are that you are here." She smiled softly, "So, how often do you skip school?" Jamie scratched the back of his head, thinking. "A lot." He smiled, "Normally I ditch Fridays like this. Means I have a long weekend." She gave him and amused look a wry smile on her face, "What the teacher's don't bother to check up on what you're doing?" He shook his head, "Nope. Never have. They really don't even want me at school I think. It's only my mom that makes me go because she says 'An Education Is Priceless' all the time." He sounded sarcastic as he repeated his mothers words, indicating to Brittany there was indeed more tension between Jamie and his parents that she realized. "Alvin tried that once, skipping school but Mr. Talbot caught him in the hall walking towards the front of the school. He was dragging Theodore along telling him if he skipped school they would go and get a box of Donuts. Theo is a sucker for double chocolate donuts." Brittany said fondly. Jamie looked at her sadly, "You miss them don't you? Your family and friends I mean." She dismissed it, "No, I'm not sappy like that. I like them I guess but I'm my own girl and I don't need other people to be happy." Jamie answered, "Okay, but you know it's alright to miss someone you know." Brittany looked at her feet as she walked, "Okay yeah I miss Alvin and Miss Miller quite a lot. I love my sisters and I guess I miss them, but I had a major fight with Jeanette and Ellie about them reading my diary, and I guess I read theirs. I've never seen Jeanette this mad before but she was. Ellie can get worked up. I actually was relieved I could be away from them just for a little while."

"And what do you think about Dave?" Jamie asked, "I always wondered how you viewed him" Her eyes flashed, "I like him quite a lot. I had a crush on him for a while when I was younger. He's like a second parent. I did live with him and the boys for a little while with my sisters so you do start bonding with people over time." She looked at Jamie, "You are jealous of Alvin I think." It came out as a statement instead of a question. Jamie was shocked but not as much as he should have been, "Yeah. For as long as I can remember I've had a crush on you, actually a crush is not right. I guess I've loved you for a long time." She rolled her eyes, "Come on, it's a crush. You don't even really know me well." Jamie's eyes met hers as they walked for a brief moment, "I think I know you better than you realize. I know you want to be the best, you are a perfectionist, and sometimes your selfishness gets you into trouble, but you see your actions as justified and that makes it okay. You do have a gentle side but it takes a while to get to and its only brief." She said sarcastically, "You really me like a book don't you?" She continued walking looking away from him, "Look you don't know me. You are just one of many kids who started out as a four or five year old watching me on television and getting distracted by my beauty and misplacing lust for love." Jamie laughed, "You're kidding right. How does a four year old experience lust? It's love. I don't need you to tell me otherwise." Jamie looked at the path and a small litter with withered white flowers that sat in a cluster behind a red octagonal shaped STOP sign. He picked one. "Come here for a second." She looked at him puzzled and weary, "Why what are you doing?" He put the flower in between her ear and hair, and it made her look like an island princess. He put both hands on her jaw and looked into her eyes, "I don't care if you don't like me back. I'm not one to push, it's just wrong when someone does that, but I like you and I can't change what I feel."

She put her hands on his chest, feeling the hard undulations of muscle and the ripples of what loose t-shirt there was that didn't cling to his body. She looked down for a moment and he lifted her chin up to him. He leant in and kissed her. She felt the warmth of his mouth, moving in some instinctual motion that only man seemed to know how to do, yet it had his own mark on it. He cupped her jaw and ever so slightly opened her mouth further, careful not to use his tongue and appear sleazy. She had her eyes open at first, taken aback but she gave into the feeling, shutting her eyes and dropping her Chanel bag to the ground, letting go of the black corded straps. He withdrew from her for a moment, she was gasping for air yet wanting more, feeling hot and flustered while aroused all at once. He brushed his lips on hers for a moment before saying in a low and primal tone, "I'll leave the decision up to you."

She watched him as he picked up her bag for her, looking a little like Elvis with his slicked hair, a young and youthful version, his face immeasurably perfect and impossibly handsome. He had a strong jaw line, and the jeans she had 'asked' him to wear hugged his butt, which sat firm. He smiled at her and perfectly white straight teeth shone at her, but it was a soft smile that lit up his face, "Come on. Let's go home." She watched him walk, now with purpose and a confident unseen. Careless strands of brown hair fell in front of his face, only a few and made him look cute. He had strong cheekbones, but not too thin in the face, and the faint appearance of little dimples as he smiled. His eyebrows arched slightly, giving him a look of deep thought and also a smoldering gaze. His nose was strong, not large but straight and defined on his face. He had a nice chin and he had no acne, which was common among teenagers in his age bracket. He had strong hands, Brittany seemed to notice that the moment, slightly worn but masculine. He listened to her talk as they walked and she discovered he was a good listener when he wasn't neurotic about his life. "I want to be a star. I know that sounds cliché, but I do." Jamie looked perplexed, "Aren't already a superstar? The Chipettes tour don't they?" Brittany shook her head, "No, not as much as the Chipmunks. I have this really intense desire to beat Alvin because I know I'm much better than him on stage. I mean sure he can play guitar and he is a showoff and knows how to work a crowd, but his dance moves aren't as good as mine and I can reach a higher vocal range than him." Jamie was interested, "Really?" She nodded, "Two octaves higher. Jeanette is one octave higher than me but she has no lower register. Eleanor has a surprisingly deep voice. It doesn't show much on the albums, but she does."

Jamie felt guilty but he was provided with a chance to find out many interesting things about his childhood idols. He just had to ask, he was nibbling at the inside of his cheeks, "What is Alvin like when he is in the studio performing and stuff?" She rolled her eyes, "Alvin? I think 'and stuff' is a better way to call his performing. He is a mess. When we did the 'Born To Rock' Album he comes in and says he wants to do a George Michael cover and the songs were already chosen. We had 'Dirty Diana' for track one, and Alvin was right, we already had 'Bad' which was obviously another Michael Jackson song. Dave agreed to replace it but he told Alvin the session guitarists will play the guitar parts because he wanted Alvin to focus solely on his singing. He had brought his acoustic guitar and black leather BSA jacket, even the damn aviator sunglasses. He asked Dave if he could get Crucifix earrings but Dave blew his top. Alvin did get to play the guitar while he sang though. He is extremely talented, but he takes forever to get ready, he takes constructive criticism personally when Dave says he's hit a bad note or needs to hold a note longer." She considered, her eyes moving from left to right thinking, "Well I guess I don't take criticism well either, but the only difference is Alvin is not a perfect performer like me."

Jamie was deeply interested, "What was more fun to make, 'Born To Rock' or 'Rock The House'?" Referring to the Chipmunk's albums around that period. Brittany put her finger to her chin, and had to think, "Hmmm, I'd say the songs were better on 'Born To Rock' but it was really tiring. We had just been running around the world for these two criminals Klaus and Claudia smuggling diamonds without knowing it." She paused, "Let me guess, you've seen the episode." Jamie gave a curl of his lip, "Well it's a movie actually 'The Chipmunk Adventure'." She sighed, "The most embarrassing parts of my life are on screen. Did I look pretty in it?" Jamie answered, "Very." She looked relieved. "Actually why am I surprised. I like when that twerp of a Sultan gave me those beautiful clothes to wear, I liked the little veil, but I didn't like the fact he wanted to marry me. It was just wrong. Although he had lots of money." She looked wistfully into the sunset which was turning a soft orange, purple and pink. "Man, how long have we been out?" Jamie said looking at the sky. "We've been walking around for ages."

Brittany glared at him, "You asked me about our albums - do you want me to answer it?" Jamie shrugged, "Sure, but you wanted to talk about 'The Chipmunk Adventure'." She groaned and threw her hands comically up in the air, "Well that 'movie' you call it is the part of the explanation. We were tired when we made 'Born To Rock', so tired that Theodore fell asleep during one recording session and Ellie lost it and sobbed from being overtired when Dave gave me the lead vocal for 'I wanna dance with somebody'."

"Did you have lots of competition with Eleanor?"

"No, not really. I don't want to hurt her feelings, but she's not really a threat. She has a strong but average voice for a female singer. She can sing good blues songs because her voice is Contralto but she sometimes sounds out of place singing with me and Jeanette."

"How did you guys decide on the album cover for 'Born To Rock'?"

"We had wild hair and dressed in really 80s glam metal stuff originally and we were going to all be holding different colored guitars, but Miss Miller said we should try a retro look so we dressed as 1950's punks in leather and posed around Miss Miller's car. Ironically it was our best album. Nearly killed all of us doing it. I remember how tired Alvin was. He was amped for a while after Klaus and Claudia were arrested but he then lost a lot of energy over the next few weeks. Dave wanted us to rest but the record company said we have to make the deadline by the start of 1988 and making an album takes a long time. We had to start right away"

"So 'Rock The House' Was easier?"

"You know it. Literally we had a two year recording window and the success of Born To Rock meant that studios knew we were hit makers and let us have complete creative control."

"But you guys were successful before 'Born To Rock' though."

"Not as two artists singing on one album. See, 'Born To Rock' was our first album were the Chipettes received equal billing with the Chipmunks and really our first major album as the Chipettes. Even though we were popular and performed, the record company was worried about two groups on one album looking tacky. I remember one of the executives at Rhino music saying the Chipettes should be taken off it and just let the Chipmunks do all the songs. The only reason we were able to stay on was because of Dave fighting for us and also that the boys couldn't sing a girls song as convincingly as us."

"Did you have a favorite song you sang on that album?"

"I really liked 'Cold Hearted' and 'It must have been love'. I like being the center of attention and I had center stage with those. I was dating Alvin at the time we were on the verge of a breakup and I remember singing 'Cold Hearted' as he watched through the studio glass. I kept my eyes on him the whole time. I wanted him to know he hurt me."

"Why what did he do?"

"He flirts too much with fans. I told him to lay off it but he kept doing it. He promised he would stop and then I walk off stage on a group performance and see some young girl giggling as he leans over her, his hand pressed to the wall, practically inches away from her face and talking."

"You're not sure he was just doing it because he's a superstar and he has to keep a certain reputation with his fans."

"Ooo, defending Alvin are we? Well, if he knew I kissed someone else he wouldn't share the same kindness towards you. He would probably whack you over the head with his guitar."

They walked in silence, before they walked to the front door of the blonde brick residence Jamie called his home. "Ready to transform back again?" He asked Brittany. She gave a look of _Duh! _and they walked through the front door. Brittany flashed white for a brief moment and became a cartoon. Her body was brightly colored lightly cell shaded, looking like the cute as a button four foot tall chipmunk most fans young and old knew her to be.


	6. Underneath The Stars

"Well what now Ms. Miller?" Jamie asked Brittany. Brittany shuddered, "Don't call me that, it makes me feel old." She looked around, craning her neck around the timber frame doorway into the kitchen. "Looks like your mom isn't home. Can we grab some kind of snack?" Jamie still felt full from lunch but Brittany had only had an apple pie and a thickshake so he could understand. He had a family size bag of mini Snickers bars, those wonderful peanut laden chocolate bars which rich caramel that Jamie got weak at the knees for. He walked over, "Will these suffice?" Brittany smirked, "Only with a glass of coke. Coke and chocolate are a match made in heaven."

They sat in Jamie's bedroom, Brittany sitting up at Jamie's desk, her feet up, reading one of his mother's beauty magazines, "Can you believe Kim is pregnant again?!" Brittany exclaimed, the bright pink and yellow magazine showing a swollen and still beautiful Kim Kardashian walking in a black bikini with Kanye West. Jamie was looking through his shirt drawers, the busted and worn light colored drawer covered in skateboard brand sticks which depicted flaming skulls, naked women and muscular guys holding high powered weapons and sporting buzz cuts. "Why does it matter?" Jamie asked, "She's a Kardashian, I'm sure if there's a weight problem she'll have a personal trainer or get liposuction." He threw clothes behind, him and ripped off the tight and uncomfortable white t-shirt. "Don't turn around for a minute." He told Brittany. "Why not?" She asked angrily. He sighed, "Just don't I'm getting changed." She turned around playfully and caught him in his underwear. "Not bad." She said. She looked at his black underwear which were worn at the waist and slightly covered in holes. "What are you going to wear those until they rot away?" He shrugged, "I don't know. I'm sure as hell not changing into a new pair in front of you." He threw on his old baggy and torn jeans and a baggy black t shirt. The shirt had a palette knife style cut out of the late singer Jani Lane of 'Warrant', an 80s glam rock band. Jamie shook his hair and let it out again, "Why must you ruin your appearance?" She asked. He hopped on his bed and put on his skater shoes. "What are you my mother? I'm just getting comfortable. I'm going out tonight. You can come if you want." _Please say you will _Jamie thought. He acted cool, but she was starting to know him well even over just two days. He didn't want to appear desperate. His black Globe skater shoes were worn, chunky and comfortable and his feet relaxed just being in them. "I go skateboarding at the local park and have a few drinks." He explained, "It's peaceful there."

"Drinks as in Alcohol?"Brittany said surprised. Jamie adjusted the tongue of his shoe, "What else?" He replied. She went over to his bed and sat by him, "I'm going to sound like your mother, but you shouldn't drink. It's really damaging to your body. Well, at least that's what Jeanette told me. It scars your liver." Jamie gave a wild smirk, "Yeah but that's part of the fun. It's self-destructive. And no, you don't sound like my mother, you sound like a fucking public service announcement." He picked up his camouflage backpack and then got up, "I might go on my own." He said simply. She ran after him as he walked to the door. "Wait!" She said. "Don't you at least wait until your mom gets home?" Jamie ran his hand through his hair, "Nope. It's Friday night. She knows I go out." She followed him down the hall and he went into a green marble study, which was full of dark brown leather bound books and Victorian era furniture, looking oddly out of place in this newer period home. There was a glass case with beautiful curved ornamental timber swirls in front of it, and Jamie, opened it and took a few mini bar bottles. His father travelled a lot and collected bottles that he purchased from various hotels around the world. Jamie knew only to take the ones which there were two of the same bottle. His dad had been too busy to check lately. He suspected he would get into trouble sooner or later, but then again why would he care. He was scared of his father but he wanted to forget the pain of his life by getting nicely drunk and killing some brain cells, perhaps the ones that keep making him remember how stagnantly awful his lonely life had become. Brittany's presence should have changed this somewhat, but part of him expected her to leave one day, return to where ever she came from. He heard the bottles clink in his bag. "I can't ride a board." Brittany said. He turned around to look at her in the beautiful marble surroundings of the study, which looked like in belonged in the movie adaptation _Clue. _She looked bashful and suddenly shy, "If I want to come. I mean can we walk there?"

The night air was cold, and it Brittany had taken her human form, not by choice. She had her pink turtle neck sweater on she had bought and was walking with Jamie. They walked largely in silence, the street lights making white arcs overhead and the stars glimmering like unearthed diamonds. There was a slight, eerie whistle to the wind and the only time the creepy nature of this nightmarish night in suburbia was the conversation with Brittany started out of nerves. "I looked at your music collection. You listen to some heavy stuff. Not much time for Chipmunks?" Jamie walked with his skateboard under his arm and replied curtly, "Sometimes, but I like Warrant a lot. It's my favorite band and it's a rock band. It's the guy in my shirt, he's the lead singer." He pinched the black t-shirt with the white palette knife cutout of a person's face, who had shaggy hair and big eyes. She looked at him, "Are you upset with me or something?" He gave her a distracted smile, "Uh, no. It's kind of hard to explain." They walked past a series of cape cod homes with blue grey roofs and very expensive European sedans, most in black, most looking immensely exotic. "Generally on Friday nights I just drift off. I'm away from school and I sort of calm down and become a bit empty inside, in a good way." Brittany looked at his backpack, "Then why do you need drink if you feel calm?" Jamie said simply, "It adds to the feeling."

Jennifer Bright followed closely behind them, choosing to stay a block away and only moving in to make sure she didn't lose them. _Who was this pretty blonde he was with? _She wondered. Brittany had a feeling that someone was behind them, but she attributed her nerves to the irrational fear of the dark and the monsters which came from it. Jamie seemed disinterested in everything, and Jennifer saw him dragging his feet as he walked, looking strangely depressed despite the fact this pretty blonde seemed very interested in him. She followed them until they walked through the serenity of late night suburbia to the light grey concrete hills of the skate park. The hills were littered with pink and yellow fluorescent graffiti tags, some of kids thinking of names such as 'Destroyer' and 'Munchbutt'. Some names were even more random like 'Sexually insecure guy' and 'Fucker88'. Someone had drawn a swastika and some Ying and Yang signs, very contradictory being next to each other and then the Tibetan peace sign which ironically was similar to the swastika. Perhaps the 'artist' was trying to make a personal statement. Jamie didn't know. Some nights he studied the tags, such as 'call for a good time' and '1800 suck me' and didn't really understand what possible motivation these people had.

She had lurked around the bushes as they talked, the pretty girl and handsome young man taking sips from what looked like bottles of alcohol. The girl was reluctant at first, but Jamie elbowed her in the ribs good naturedly and she took a sip before coughing like she been caught in a house fire. She looked like a supermodel, impossibly perfect with her designer clothes and flaxen blonde hair, and it made Jennifer fume to the base of her stomach and up to her temples. Jennifer's attraction to Jamie was reaching fever pitch, to the point where she would molest him should she be able to overpower him. She would never allow her friends to see, because being in love with a loser would affect her social standing in the school, but she needed to relieve herself of this sexual tension. She placed a finger inside herself, already soaking wet, past the folds and shut her eyes, enjoying the sensation of being a voyeur.

"You are really confusing Jamie Harrison." Brittany said, starting to slur her words and speak slower. She became more dramatic and flailed her arms as she spoke. She poked Jamie in the face with her index finger, "You know -yo-you are alright. You are a bit of a dork but you are alright." She laughed, putting her head on the grass and laying back, "Geez, what's in this stuff?" She said, looking quizzically at the little empty green bottle of liquor. Jamie laid back next to her, looking at the stars, "Well, looking at that bottle, I'd say it was straight vodka." She began to lay back with her eyes shut, "You are a bad influence Mr. Harrison. If Miss Miller was here she would shove her rolling pin up your ass." Jamie laughed, "Ha, what? Why a rolling pin?" Brittany smirked, "You didn't question about it going in your ass, just what tool she was going to use. So you like it that way huh?" Jamie lied, "Yes, yes all the time Brittany. I can't get enough of having my ass pounded." Brittany mocked him, "Thought so." They both laughed at their little joke. They watched a shiny 747 with its red and yellow flashing lights fly overhead, listening to the whine of the jet engines, and feeling the slight vibrations it made. "I know I've only known you for a short while, but I think I will miss you when I go." Brittany said, feeling unlike her confident self, for the first time in her life, ever. She felt sick to the stomach, not from the alcohol, but from this feeling of being off balance with her emotions. "I'll miss you too." Jamie said simply. _More than you could ever know _he thought.

Jennifer had finished touching herself and brought her fingers up to her mouth, licking them for a brief moment, imagining it had been Jamie inside of her. Whatever mental stability that once remained in the neurological makeup of this girls mind had evaporated long ago, in its place a shredded mess of random and unhealthy thoughts. She saw entire civilizations fall, planets explode and babies crying without their mothers. Baseballs being hit with bats. Dark basements were people were gagged and kept hostage and fed gruel. Beautiful rainbow assortments of flowers. Puppy dogs with big eyes and floppy ears. She saw joy and terror and found it hard to distinguish between the two. She felt compelled to act. To do something to the two people in front of her. Her ached, and it told her to kill. It told her the only way to stop the aching was to kill the source of it, which stemmed from her infatuation with Jamie Harrison.


	7. All yours

Brittany felt the alcohol kick in. She felt alive, sexually dangerous and adventurous. She lay back on the grass, on her side and resting on her hip. She had her head in her palm, watching Jamie skateboard and make the occasional jump, the board spinning and rotating, while he landed it without issue. He did two spins on the board, which she guessed was a 720. He was an interesting person. Good sketch artist, good skateboard rider and able to make her melt with just his gaze. She hated him immensely for that.

He kicked up his board, sat up at the crest of the skate ramp and looked over the city which the park overlooked. There was a sea of golden lights, the occasional blue or pink glow of neon which signified nightclubs and strip joints, and the city itself was full of red glowing brake lights of cars, making the city look like it had blood filled arteries. Brittany watched him and admired the beauty he didn't know he had. Every part of her body tingled, her nipples were hard and her body was throbbing in anticipation. He lay down next to her and he could feel her desire. Her scent was distinctly female, the ability to describe it was part of the intrigue. She carried the scent of sex, nothing else could be said. She ran her hand down his stomach and to his centre, feeling the outer fabric of his baggy jeans which were now surprisingly tight due to his erection. It pushed, aching to come out. She traced her fingers lightly towards it as he leaned into her, kissing her softly, only brushing her lips. He withdrew from her, teasing and she had her eyes half closed, looking pretty and dazed, her lips calling for his. He cupped her face with a strong hand and then used the other to slide down her pink sweater, reaching up under the clothes. She was burning up, he could feel the heat on his skin, it coming out in goosebumps. He gently held her breast, using his thumb to circle the nipple, kissing her softly as she moaned, feeling the moans inside his own mouth.

She wanted him out. She wanted to stroke him. Normally she didn't think of boys like that, more their smile and their cute butts, but she wanted him. She wanted to be completely around every inch of him. She felt like she would die if he continued, but in the same token die if he stopped. She titled her head back into the grass as he unbuttoned the brass button on her jeans, pulling down the steel teeth and rubbing the outside of her pink panties, feeling that she was soaking wet. It made him realize she had been thinking about this, stirring herself up into a frenzy. He reached down and felt the small, button like softness of the clit, however it was firm now, and his index finger slid off the wetness trying to touch it. She gasped, and the gasping alone made him incredibly aroused. He felt wet and hard in his underwear, and it hurt to be inside them. He felt her folds, the soft undulations and then entered a single digit inside her, testing her, seeing her limit. She hoped he would go further. She had never felt anything like this. She wanted to tell him _I'm a virgin _before anything happened, but she didn't want to appear inexperienced. She put a hand on his chest, which was lean, muscled and strong, and felt his heart beat, fast and excited. She was running her hands through his dark locks of wild hair, wanting him inside her.

She thought of him in ways she couldn't explain. Her mind was a mess, and she welcomed and also hated this. She could see herself marrying him, see him as her true love, feeling Alvin move to the far reaches of her mind, yet feeling a tinge of guilt for doing so. She was feeling love for this boy, this handsome boy with the brooding and dark nature, who somehow was a mess mentally but capable of genuine, smoldering animalistic desire when prodded. She knew he was passionate, and his passions were what drove him to be a drinker, an artist and a rebel against the world. Brittany's eyes caught the light of the moon, and a slight mauve shade came into the blue, and Jamie realized he happened to be in the presence of the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. He had known this previous, but somehow any doubt of his love for her was quashed. He felt the wetness of her walls, she contracted and tightened, and he wondered what it would be like inside her, to feel her love for him in a carnal sense.

She felt close _what is this? _she thought. She had only touched herself twice in her life, the reasons were Miss Miller walked in on her two wake the Chipettes up one morning for school and Miss Miller didn't see Brittany doing anything under the blanket, but she somehow knew. Brittany was red in the face, a sex flush on her face, her hair tussled and messed up when Miss Miller came in yelling, "Come on girls! Time for school!"

The other time she touched herself was purely by accident washing herself in the shower. Something about the water trickling down her folds, and the portable shower nozzle. She was close until Miss Miller, yet again yelled for Brittany to "Turn off the water sweetie! We are not made of money here!"

Brittany had no interruptions, her body was being felt up, desired and possibly fucked. Yes, she was thinking fucked. She had romantic designs on James Harrison but here she was, a girl with raging hormones, wanting to just have a boy explore her body. Or so she thought.

"Okay! I think I've seen enough, a voice shouted from not far away. Brittany was in the throes of sexual desire, and it was quickly extinguished by this unknown strangers interference. She didn't feel as embarrassed as she felt angry, that her connection with Jamie had been ended without warning. She was still drugged on hormones, slow to react, as was Jamie, who was looking her in the eyes. It took him a while to come to, to realize they both had been disturbed.


	8. Off Balance

Jennifer Bright came out of the brushes, the dark green assortment of sharp, pointed leaves brushing as she moved through. Her hand looked wet, and somehow that disturbed Brittany more than the fact someone was watching her and Jamie make love. The girls hand seemed to be twitching, either a semblance of repetitive strain injury or a nervous twitch. Brittany thought it might be the latter, a psychological impairment. She moved closer to Brittany and Jamie, muttering something which became louder. Her dark color eyes were Jennifer's shame, in a town full of blue eyed beauty. She tried to wear contacts but they burnt. She had her hair dyed blonde, and she hoped that was enough. Her thoughts were a jumbled. She thought about crawling into the crack of someone's bedroom ceiling. She thought about the daily travels of a spider. She thought about things which no human being could possibly comprehend of understand she was on a new level of conscious understanding. She was a visionary, she was going to be somebody. Yet, Jamie's presence in her life raised questions. She found him to be a distraction. How could she achieve greatness while her lust consumed her? She must destroy the source of the lust.

"You, you are having fun right?" Jennifer asked, her voice cracking slightly, sounding husky. "It looked like you were. It looked like you know how to use your hand Jamie. You had her popping her cherry. Yes, you sure did." Jamie looked at her, placing a protective hand over Brittany's chest, holding her back. "What are you doing here Jennifer? Do you know how wrong this is?" She seemed glassy eyed, "You view it that way Jamie. I must bear witness to your actions because it's in my destiny to control you. I do that at school, so why shouldn't I do it outside of it." She began to rub her lips, making them red raw and starting to bleed. Her teeth looked like vampire's teeth, suddenly razor like to Brittany. She could see the lasciviousness in this girls movements. She wanted to consume them both. Brittany was terrified but angry. "Speaking of school? Missing another Friday as usual?" Jennifer asked Jamie. She tilted her head quizzically at a weird angle. It looked like an anatomically impossible angle, like a dolls head bent by a cruel child at a deliberate angle. Brittany screamed from behind Jamie's body. She started walking forward but Jamie held her back. He was amazingly strong. Brittany knew this but it also felt like he was high on adrenalin as well. "What the fuck is your problem?" She asked Jennifer, "Do you even understand how creepy you are by doing this? Now go home before I stick my boot up your ass."

Jennifer mumbled something like, "Yes, yes. I know but I only want to kill her. I'll kill him later." It wasn't audible to Brittany and Jamie, but the next sentence was, "I'd love to see you try bitch." She said to Brittany smiling sadistically and gesturing a 'come on' gesture with her hands. "Let me go Jamie." Brittany warned. "Okay you stupid whore, let's go." Brittany growled. Jennifer giggled and it sounded demented and bizarre, "Oh okay you're calling me a whore? Getting fingered in a public park? I bet you do this so much you are looser than an untied rope." Brittany screamed, her voice shrill and suddenly terrifying to Jamie, like a wounded dog, "I'll kill you! I'll fucking kill you bitch!" Jennifer ran at Brittany, but Brittany picked up the skateboard, and in a baseball batter's arc like motion, twisting her body like Babe Ruth swung the timber of the board and part of the steel truck into Jennifer's face. The board made a wet _Thwack! _sound as it connected and blood sprayed Brittany's face and chest, staining her pink sweater in red. Jennifer went really back, her face already swelling up purple and yellow from the intense force of the hit. Jamie sat paralyzed, but came to when he realized that he and Brittany were happening to be dealing with a lunatic. Jennifer gave chase, whatever shred of mental stability gone like the remnants of a dream easily forgotten from the night before. Brittany felt Jamie's hand pull her, had been on automatic pilot, grabbing his backpack, but leaving his skateboard behind after Brittany had thrown it down.

They ran, hearing the booted feet of Jennifer Bright thundering behind them, screaming a mess of incongruous and strange words, almost primitive and tribal. The trees loomed overhead like judging spectators to a murder scene, the grey spidery elm trees with bulbous bends like an old man's knuckles. The dirt path which led from the park back to the familiarity of Suburbia was laden with orange and dried fallen leaves from the previous fall season, and they crunched under feet. Brittany felt like she was in some bizarre parody of a slasher film, and the black figure behind them was a their impending demise. It made sense too. They were a young couple making out when they were confronted and attacked. The only difference was Brittany was the kind of girl to fight back against the Jason Voorhees and Michael Myers of the world and she was the kind of person to take off Freddy Krueger's leather and steel clawed glove and slice him up with it. She was proactive. However, running like a chicken in this moment bothered her. Jamie pulled her suddenly to the left and they fell down a very grassy embankment full of long light green blades of uncut grass that were probably two feet tall and unmaintained by the local city council. There was a massive concrete tube that was open and acted as a storm water drain nearby. Jamie pulled Brittany into it and they waited. Footsteps. The steps grew louder and the murmuring of the dyed blonde psychopath reached fever pitch into yells, "I'll get you, I'll cut you up and eat you. I'll eat your pussy bitch. I bet Jamie would like watching that." She breathed heavily and it was through her nose, in long snorts, like a pig. Suddenly the footsteps disappeared. Brittany whispered to Jamie, "Can we go now?" He shook his head, "No, she might be pretending she has left. We will wait an hour and then go home just to be sure. I also know another way back to my house."

They had sat for half an hour, in the icy coldness of the storm drain and Jamie could see Brittany was shivering, hugging her sides, her face almost blue with cold, her lips white. She looked like a fine doll. Jamie looked in his backpack for a spare shirt and then decided to take the one off he was wearing. He wrapped it around her, "Here." He said simply. She looked at him shocked, "What? You'll freeze, put it back on." He held her close to him and they huddled. "I'm alright. I'm all hot and sweaty from skateboarding." She pinched her nose playfully. "Yeah I can tell." He made a comically shocked face, "Oh my missy. We are getting a little insensitive aren't we?" She smirked at him, "You are one sweet asshole, you know that?" Jamie replied, "I never thought those two words would be strung together. What would a sweet asshole be like? I'm guessing an ass made of candy, preferably some kind of type covered in sugar, raspberry and with a cream center." Brittany made a screwed up face, "Ew! Gross. You are fucking sick."

Jamie suddenly went serious, "Did you feel ready for what we were about to do?" Brittany considered, "Honestly I don't know. If this was some cliché romance novel I'd say 'I was born for you' but we both know that's not true. I would say I'm falling for you, but I still love Alvin. I couldn't stop myself in those moments though."

"Brittany, I know you love Alvin, I'm not going to push but there is something you need to know. I know I've said it before, but I have loved you for as long as I can remember."

"I know, but can't we just see it as harmless fun? You were turned on, I was turned on." She looked away from him and pulled away slightly from his grasp.

"Okay." She sighed. "Like I said I'm falling for you. I don't like it but I am. Can we talk about something else? Like who was that girl? She's the one who ruined your art book right?"

Jamie nodded, "Yep. She's the one." He looked angry, his lips pursed.

Brittany rolled her eyes, "Don't be like that. I would rather be honest with how I feel. Okay I like you but we are literally from two different worlds - man that sounds so romance novel like. Look, anyway you've got that girls number. You seem to be learning to talk to girls. You sure as hell know how to use your body and touch a girl's body. You just need to stop being so fucking clingy."

Jamie got up, and swung his backpack over his naked shoulder. "Let's get out of here."

Jamie had walked to the door of his house, bare chested, sweaty and without his skateboard. Jamie's mother, a dark haired and temperamental soul viewed the scene. Her handsome, rebellious son half naked in the dead cold, with some blonde girl who was wearing his t-shirt over her jumper, impossibly pretty. She disliked the girl instantly as she stood in the doorway of the house, leaning against the polished timber frame, in her red dressing down, her arms crossed, one leg crossed over the other, her hair in rollers, all bright pink. Brittany noticed those since her favorite color was pink, and didn't think enough to realize most likely Jamie was in deep trouble, "You little bastard." His mother growled, "Out all night. I bet you didn't go to school today either." Jamie sighed, "I went to school mom." He lied, "This is my friend Britt-Belinda." He quickly changed it. Brittany gave a nervous smile and a small wave. "We were at a party in the park when we were chased by someone. That's why I'm later than usual." His mother walked down the path and grabbed her sons shoulders, looking worried, "Are you alright?" Her voice trembled. Jamie nodded, "Yeah." "Hi Mrs. Harrison." Brittany said, "Your son has been awfully sweet. He gave me his shirt because it was cold where he had to hide. He insisted I wear it." Jamie smiled and she quickly winked at Jamie when his mother was not looking. "Okay, you two come inside. It's cold out here and we can talk about it." Brittany stopped, nervous. If she walked through the door she would turn into a cartoon. "Uh, Mrs. Harrison my dad is waiting to pick me up just down the block. I have to go." Jamie's mother looked suspicious. "If he is, then why did you come to my door?" Brittany panicked, "Uh, well I wanted to see Jamie off." Jamie's mother smiled and relaxed, "Are you two dating? That's sweet. Look why don't you come inside. I'll call your father on his cell and tell him our address. You can wait in the warmth for him to arrive."

_Damn it! _Brittany thought. "My dad doesn't have a cell. He just told me to be here at this time." Jamie's mother was now very suspicious, "And what time did he say he was going to pick you up?" Jamie stepped in, "God mom! Enough with the interrogation. Look, mom I'll just walk Belinda back to her dad's car." Jamie's mother fiddled with her curlers, "Alright but put your shirt back on. You look like you two have been fooling around, I don't think Belinda's father would like to see that."

Jamie and Brittany walked down the block, "Fuck, that was close." Jamie said. Brittany was breathless, "I know! What do we do now?" Jamie considered. "Well loop around the block and sneak in the house the back way. We will have to run upstairs. Remember when you are a cartoon I can't hold you or drag you because it hurts both of us, so run with me and do what I say." Jamie and Brittany looped around the block and then came up to the back fence of the house, the old and familiar unpainted, non-descript timber fence that seemed to be outside of any architectural period in history. Jamie boosted himself over the fence, the dog Drucker barking but not in aggression, he knew Jamie. He went up and nuzzled him, but Jamie pushed the aging black Labrador away and helped Brittany over the fence, "Last time I do anything like that." She groaned. "Girls shouldn't be made to climb fences." Drucker nuzzled Brittany as Jamie opened the back door to the house, through the small tiled laundry and then they both ran up the stairs. There was a brief flash of white light and Brittany was her four foot tall Chipette self again, bright with color, her legwarmers drooping over her little ballet shoes, her golden kinks of hair wild and untamed. They sat in the darkness of Brittany's room, she climbed onto the bed, Jamie taking the floor. Jamie stuffed some clothes in front of his battered timber door to stop his mother coming in during the night and he sat with his arms behind his head, looking up at his posters, thinking.

Brittany was thinking too. It was back in 1989 when she was performing in some club. She remembered it was one of many clubs she had performed at, often adult clubs because the Chipettes were seen as sex symbols at even such a young age. She hated that, it creeped her out, but she learnt 'sex sells' and selling meant selling records. She wanted top Alvin. She remembered it was some club full of suit wear yuppie businessman, most around 24 years of age, wall street brokers with slicked hair and business suits from Armani, double breasted. Many of them looking like male models, perfectly maintained skin that was the result of high priced shaving cream, a great electric razor or personal barber and their own tanning bed. Many of the men would watch her on stage, some of them making crude gestures. She was told to ignore it. Dave didn't set these gigs up for her, he never would have allowed Brittany to do this and if Miss Miller knew she would be aghast with shock. Brittany would ask her driver to take her in secret, without her sisters. Once Ellie tried to come along but she was groped by one of the men as she leant down to sing a line from the song 'Manic Monday' and was so upset she didn't come back. She still finished the song and the set because she was a professional, but it really broke her little heart.

Brittany remembered the strobe lights in this club, so perfect in the eighties, the pink and blue neon and the occasional purple. She learnt to gyrate her hips, act sexual, not because she felt it but because it was the thing to do. She learnt how to hold a microphone suggestively in a phallic fashion, simulating a handjob or oral sex. She remembered someone offering her cocaine, just trying it to 'take the edge' off, some slick haired ash blonde guy with a hook nose and beady eyes. He cut lines on a glass table with a razor and rubbed some on his teeth. The strobes filled the clubs, and when she experienced the hit of the drug, making her feel alive yet somehow more alert and still capable of holding conversation, the strobes somehow took on a more dramatic effect. She tingled all over, and her teenage body was feeling electric.

She began to sob quietly in bed. She didn't know why. It wasn't necessarily a bad memory, just a strange one. The catalyst for her tears stemmed from the fact that she would return to a world in which she felt somehow distinct from it. She loved and adored Alvin, she loved her sisters, Dave and Miss Miller and of course she still thought of Olivia, but the was torn. Her whole body ached and her tears stung, staining the pillow.


	9. In your dreams

Somewhere, in some distant realm beyond the confines of borders and somehow eerily reaching its clammy hands over the world was a portal to another world. Alvin Seville had his black aviator shades on, a matching black suit and sharp red tie. He took off his lucky red cap and his fuzz of caramel colored hair hit the sun and warmed. It was a strange day beautiful and blue sky that didn't match his mood. He couldn't find Brittany. No one could. No one had seen her for days, fearing the worst. The police were on the case, applying forensics to her studio apartment which she rented often when she went on tour in Los Angeles, going over the Shabby Chic apartment with a fine tooth comb, zip-lock bags and with black lights. Alvin cringed because even in his sixteen years of age, he knew a black light was either looking for faded blood stains or semen. He had assumed the worst, and he relinquishment of control over his girlfriend's life had broken him. He needed to know she was by his side, even though he was arrogant and brash towards her. He loved her in the only way he knew how. He had watched the police with their white latex gloves and state of the art equipment go through her things at both Miss Miller's, and Dave's house. The boys were interviewed, Theodore cried, all of her sisters cried. Simon was providing cold statistics about how within 48 hours if she could not be located she was most likely dead. Simon however, appeared affected by Brittany's absence too. Alvin had caught Simon crying in the bathroom mirror while brushing his teeth, the blue jumper wearing and lanky Simon Seville showing emotion that had only ever been shown a few times in his life, namely the loss of Cookie Chomper III.

Alvin had yet to cry. Not that he didn't care, but he refused to believe she was gone. He had stood out in the yard where he had carved his and Brittany's initials in a heart on a very old Poinciana tree, a bright green and prehistoric looking tree that had been in the yard for as long as he could remember.

_Alvin Seville_

_Loves_

_Brittany Miller_

_3_

He ran his fingers over the sharp cuttings he had made to carve his initials. Dave had been angry Alvin had defaced the tree, but he understood that Alvin loved Brittany. It had always seemed both of them were meant to be together. Alvin stood that way in the yard for hours. Looking at nothing but the carving he had made, in a happier time.

Jamie, on the other side of the universe, on the other end of the portal to the real world had slept, and it was an uneasy sleep. He was in some 1930's Art deco cafe with chrome plated benches and booths, and very strong red leather seating that was fashioned into either a straight seat or a U shape for the corner booths. The waitresses wore pink and white striped frilly miniskirts and their hair was raven black, their lips red and their eyes bright green. They all looked like clones of one another. Ryan Gosling, dressed and looking dapper in a suit sat at a corner booth, hidden from the golden glow of the light by the booth structure. He opened a small white paper packet of sugar and poured it into black coffee, smiling at a waitress who smiled at him with sexual desire. She blew him a kiss, and he gave her a distinct nod of _Yeah, thanks sweetie _and returned to his coffee. Jamie found himself walking to the booth, and Ryan appeared to be expecting him.

"Well, look who we have joining us this late to the party." Ryan said in his trademark voice, measured and confident. "I almost thought you weren't gonna show." Jamie looked around at the diner, which had chrome plated napkin dispensers and Sandra D type blonde cheerleaders with handsome all American boyfriends drinking pink and green smoothies out of beautiful long glasses, nuzzling and hugging one another. At one corner a man in a white fedora and white suit smoked a Laramie 75 with a gold band around it. His face was obscured by the fedora. Something was playing on the flawless looking Wurlitzer Jukebox, something by Billy Ocean that famous Caribbean singer with a velvet voice. He was singing something about Love hurting him. "Why am I here?" Jamie asked. Ryan smiled, "You mean you don't know?" Jamie shook his head and glared at him, "Of course not." Ryan gestured wide with his hands, "Why James - you are special. Very special. You have the ability to open worlds. Surely you have noticed you are different to everyone else, right?" Jamie paused and held up his hands, "Whoa, wait. You're saying I'm doing this?" Ryan sipped his coffee, "Come on. You know you did. You haven't even questioned why you are talking to a celebrity either. You just seem to accept the amazing as fact." Jamie glared, "Yes Mr. Gosling I know who you are, this is just a dream."

He wiped his mouth with a napkin, "Miss, can I get an apple pie with cream?" he gestured to the waitress who winked at him, "Sure you can, handsome." She wrote on her little notepad with a chrome plated pen which glimmered in the light. "Listen Jamie, this might be a dream, but even in your dreams you have the ability to cross worlds. You might be asleep in your bed now, but you are kind of not, if you get my drift." Jamie gave him a dry look, "No, I don't." Ryan smirked, "Boy you are a bag of laughs kid. Look, what matters is I am not really Ryan Gosling, I just took a form your mind appropriated. You seem to be fascinated with him. I am someone you could never imagine. Think of me as kind of like your guardian angel." Jamie sighed, "Okay whatever. I expect to wake up soon. What is it you need to talk to me about?" Ryan was served a crispy, golden apple pie with an unnaturally large dollop of whipped cream. He murmured something in the waitress' ear and he giggled like a school girl. "Hmm, you gotta try this." Ryan said taking a bite with some cream. "Look," He said chewing, very confident and sure of himself, "Someone will be coming to take Brittany back. Yes, you have this special power, but you crossed the line bringing her over. I actually expected you to use this power sooner, but you held off."

Jamie shrugged and fidgeted, "I wasn't even aware I had a fucking power. Look Mr. Gosling or whoever you are, I am at a loss as to what is going on here, but you say Brittany needs to go back. Okay, I understand that but what can I do about it? I didn't even know how I bought her here." Ryan rubbed his chin, "Listen kid. What you need to do is touch Brittany in her cartoon form. You felt the pain right when you tried to touch her?" Jamie nodded, "Sure." Ryan continued, "Well you need to hold her until she completely fades away." Jamie stared him down, "It hurt though. It hurt her too. Will it kill her?" Ryan shrugged, "It's not for me to say. I only deliver the messages kid. Odds are she will return to her world but we have lost people in crossover's before." Jamie leant in an pounded his hand on the table, "What are you talking about?" Ryan jumped slightly, "One kid years ago made a crossover with a cartoon character called Lorraine DeMarques. He was visited by a messenger who told him to do what I told you. He hugged her goodbye and she disappeared." Jamie looked shocked and confused, his dark and handsome features quizzical, "I've never heard of her."

Ryan took another bite of his perfectly made pie. "Makes sense. When they fade away they get wiped from the history books. Nada, zilch, zero. Nothing left." Jamie reached over and grabbed the collar of gosling's suit jacket and pulled him closer. He could smell the apple and cinnamon on his breath, "Listen to me you motherfucker." Jamie began, "You cannot expect me to do that knowing Brittany might cease to exist." Ryan laughed, "Why? It's a game you started kid. You better be able to finish it."

Suddenly Ryan started making alarm clock noises with his mouth and slapping the table loudly in the diner. Jamie woke up in a cold sweat. A scream stuck in his throat, his heart pounding, the light white glow of early morning washing over him.


	10. Mixed emotions

Jamie found himself looking out the window of his bedroom as Brittany slept, his shirt off, arms crossed, not feeling the cold. Feeling sick to his stomach. He watched the clouds move across the town, white billowing cumulus shapes of fairy floss like mass. The sun briefly appearing from the distant horizon, making the black silhouette of buildings start to take detail and form.

He saw her stir in her bed, her pretty chipmunk face, so colorful and striking making grimacing expressions. She was in the midst of a nightmare. He sat down on the edge of the bed pulled the blanket up over her, her breathing small and slow. He went to touch her cheek and realized he couldn't. Not in this form. He got a clean t-shirt off his desk chair and wrapped it around his hand, and rubbed the side of her face softly. Her expression changed to a smile, and she stopped making worried faces.

He got up off the bed again, careful not to wake her and continued to think. He didn't want to lose her or anything bad to happen to her through the crossover back to her world yet he knew she couldn't stay.

She woke up slowly, rubbing her eyes, her hair fuzzy and sticking up. She looked impossibly cute and frazzled and if it was possible for Jamie to love her more, he would. He continued to look out the window, and she stood beside him, "Bad dreams?" She asked. "Bad dreams." He replied. She went to touch his arm and closed her hand, pulling it back. She bit her lip, looking sat, her blue eyes glimmering. "I dreamt of someone. He told me I have to go back." Brittany said, Jamie turned to her surprised, "You did? I dreamt of it too. He said it might kill you crossing over." Brittany nodded, "I know." He went to touch her, comfort her but he pulled back, "Damn it!" He slammed a fist on his computer monitor, the whole thing shuddering. He then ran his hands through his hair, "I can't even touch you." She moved in close to him, "You can. When we go outside. When I transform." They snuck out of the house, and in the early morning took a massive yellow 1950's Chevrolet bus with hardly any passengers into town, the human form Brittany holding Jamie's hand. She squeezed his hand and said nothing. The sound of the bus motor was all that could be heard, droning and loud.

They sat at a small park, a pavement courtyard full of pigeons that looked inquisitively for stray crumbs of food. Green painted park benches surrounded them, but it was too early for people to start enjoying the park. They were eating oversized choc chip muffins and having a hot chocolate each, Jamie dressed in a black long sleeve button shirt and black jeans. Brittany had her black sweater on, the pink one stained in Jennifer's blood from the previous night. They finished their food, and Brittany said, "Let's get you a haircut." Jamie looked at her shocked, "No way man. My hair is my life." She pinched his cheek playfully. "Oh well looks like you are going to end that life. Come on, let's find a barber."

The day was white outside, overcast and extremely peaceful. Not many cars this early in the morning or people, but the shops were open, including an old barber shop run by Italian men in white vests and with a real barber's red and white pole out the front. The chubby and thick accented Italian man listened as Brittany explained the haircut she wanted for Jamie. "Now, I want it neat, still a good fringe, but cleaned up." She grabbed his mop of hair. "He needs to start looking like a human being again." Jamie watched the barber's scissors, long old fashioned and glimmering with those curved thumb holders and the blades chopping through his hair. He sat in shock and amusement all at once under the black fabric that was wrapped around his body to cover him from the hair, feeling the spray of the water bottle, cool on his neck. Brittany asked the barber if she could take the bottle and she sprayed him playfully in the face. He laughed and moved, and the barber said, "Don't move please," In his thick, regional accent, his hairy knuckles and fingers working frantically. When the haircut was finished, he sat in the chair and Brittany looked at herself in the mirror, wrapping her arms around Jamie and said "Welcome back to the real world sweetie." She liked him clean cut. Finally his face could be seen and he looked very handsome, more so than she could have possibly imagined.

It was a day, almost too perfect to be real. Jamie and Brittany had shared a hot jumbo pretzel at a local vendor stand, and then decided to look at the puppies at the local pet store. Brittany had laughed as she held a baby Jack Russell terrier puppy with wiry fur, and it licked her, the puppies wearing pink ribbons around their neck. Jamie was seeing Brittany at her most happy, and it was a rare thing. They held hands as they picked at a pink spin hive of fairy floss, and found it quite difficult and sticky to do both at once. It was turning out like some corny romance novel, but for Jamie and Brittany it wasn't so corny. Slowly she was letting her guard down and feeling the need to connect with him. She told him things he never thought she would say, and it meant a lot to him.

"Sometimes, not often, but sometimes I get scared I won't always be pretty. I know that sounds vain, but it matters a lot to me." Jamie shook his head, "No, it doesn't sound vain. We all fear losing what we have." She looked at him as they walked through a massive glass conservatory at the end of a small shopping centre surrounded by ornamental ferns and trees. The trickle of fountains could be heard was well as pre-recorded sounds of birds. "You never struck me as a person who had any insecurities." Brittany looked away for a moment, "Yeah, but you can never judge a book by its cover. I'm happy with who I am, that's why I fear losing it. She paused, "Can I ask you something? Why me? Why out of all the cartoon girls did you pick me? I know I'm awesome but a lot of people don't like my attitude. Sometimes even if someone is pretty like me the personality is a turn off."

Jamie thought, "Well it wasn't your looks that made me like you. It was your voice. I remember you were singing 'I wanna Dance with somebody' and I loved the emotion you put behind it. I know it sounds cliché, but when you sang about wanting to be with someone else, I knew you meant it. You have a good heart. I know that you get written off as being stubborn, but there is more to you that what people see. You have a real romantic view of the world." She shook her head, "I don't see it."

"I think you do."

"You're telling me how to think?"

"I just don't think you are giving yourself enough credit."

"Jamie, let's not kid anymore. I want you to be completely honest."

"I have been honest. I've told you I love you."

"Well, I don't love you."

She walked off, Jamie following her, "Brittany," He grabbed her arm, she had both of them crossed, her eyes shut and was crying softly. "I don't know why you do that. You open up and withdraw all the time. What are you afraid of?" She broke free from his grasp and broke into a run. "Nothing! Just leave me alone!"

She ran in the other direction, running through the glass tinted hallways of the shopping centre, under a silver satin awning which was meant to shield customers from the rain and out onto the road. A yellow taxi which looked dirty and worn from years of service came up as she was running out onto the road. Jamie saw her stop and freeze, panicking. He acted instantaneously, the squeal of the brakes could be heard, the smoke of the tired and the horn, but the car was still too fast to stop. The cab had picked up speed to overtake another slower driver in a brown Ford station wagon, and the cab driver didn't count on a young woman standing in the overtaking lane. Jamie took a diving position, feeling like a mock bodyguard and grabbed Brittany, pulling her sideways. They both hit the ground, but Jamie shielded her as they fell. The cab drivers horn was blasting as Jamie picked her up waving the cab driver off like _Sorry dude, just let us get out of your way alright?_

Jamie stood with her on the sidewalk, a young man with curly black hair and one different colored eye to the other, one blue, one green came up carrying a bundle of flyers, "Are you guys alright?" He asked. A crowd had formed and he was the brave out to ask. He had a strong New Yorker accent, suspenders on and a red skivvy. Jamie waved him off and smiled, "Yes, thank you very much." He handed out a flyer, "Want to get 25% of at Radio Shack?" Jamie sighed, "Look, now is not the time, but thanks anyway." Jamie had a cut along his face, from a black and red graze, the tar of the road mixing in with the open cut. Brittany reached up and went to touch his face and he winced in pain. Blood trickled down his neck and onto his shirt, "Oh Jamie I'm so sorry." He smiled, "No need to be sorry. Are you alright?" She was trembling and he held her. She looked up at him and she kissed him. He kissed her back, putting her hands on his broad shoulders and he held her waist. When they withdrew, she had a bit of blood on her cheek, "Man we better get you cleaned up." She said looking distressed.

They had returned home, Brittany now a cartoon, Jamie and her in the bedroom. "I wish I could help" Brittany said, watching him clean up his face with a cotton swab, some amber colored antiseptic called Dettol in a big Family Size bottle and then applying a band aid. He finished cleaning himself up and he sat at his desk chair. "How are you going to explain this to your mother?" He shrugged smiling, "Simple, skateboarding accident. I dislocated my shoulder once riding, she knows I get banged up sometimes."

"No one has ever done anything like that for me before." She said really sad and solemn. "Why do you make it a habit to run in front of cars?" Jamie asked smiling. "I'm serious Jamie. It means more than you know." She picked up a piece of paper from his desk, littered with scribbles of Brittany and kissed it. She handed it to him. "For you. Now kiss it back." He kissed where the red lipstick had marked itself on the page, full pouting and beautiful lips making their mark.


	11. With you

Brittany and Jamie spent what seemed like hours in the bedroom, transfixed on each other, wondering if the possibility of the other person being just a dream. The evening light was a deep purple flooding through the room, and Brittany's eyes sparkled blue, picked up a hint of mauve, her full, pouting lips blowing the odd kiss as Jamie drew her in his sketch book. She was posing, her hands under her chin, her elbows on crossed legs. She looked mischievous, sexual and full of something indefinable that Jamie couldn't put his finger on. Her caramel colored kinks of styled hair fell down by her sides and she watched him as he drew her. Occasionally he would put his tongue on his upper lip, wince his face to a pained expression, sometimes smile at something he had done, and mumble to himself. She could see over a timber cork board where Jamie had clipped the A3 sheet of paper that her reflection was coming to life. She looked at the band aid on his face, a reminder of what had been done today for her.

Night time had rolled around and somehow the hours had passed like seconds. Jamie and Brittany had snuck downstairs and gone into the back yard. Jamie let Drucker, the black Labrador in the house and tightened the red handkerchief that was wrapped around his neck as it was coming lose. The dog licked Jamie's hand as he walked to the back door, letting Drucker sleep in the laundry as it was very cold for the dog to be in his kennel. Brittany had become human, she felt his hand and it was a deep longing for her to feel his touch. She had been in cartoon form for hours in Jamie's bedroom, unable to act on what she felt. Jamie laid down a black and burgundy patchwork quilt he had found in the closet. Jamie watched as his mother's bedroom light turned off, the last vestige of light being that lone yellow square that signified his mothers bedroom. Her bedroom shone a slight pink from the color of the paint, and a black silhouette of a slender woman could be seen closing the blinds.

Jamie was dressed in a blue long sleeve button shirt, he was leaning up a big grey elm tree that sat in the yard, shielding Brittany and Jamie from his mother's possible view should she come to the window. It was very dark, and all they could see was each other's eyes, Jamie's a flash of smoldering brown Brittany's a deep oceanic blue, with that slight hint of mauve. They had been drinking a few bottles of vodka, taking the edge off, talking for hours about what was in store for them. They had planned to get married, saying it more out of a dream than anything else, knowing the real reality would be much less of a fairy tale. She would either lose her life crossing over or cross over and he wouldn't see her again anyway. Sure, he may have the power to jump between one world to the next, but whatever forces governed the borders would be displeased with Jamie and less forgiving if he attempted to seek out Brittany again. He grasped her hand, stayed it in motion and felt her fingertips against his. Her heartbeat throbbed throughout her body, and he pressed against her softly, feeling her warmth. She felt him, firm and immovable down at his centre, his length incredibly strong. She felt wet even before anything had begun, and the first evidence of trickles began to trace their way in a clear fluid down her thighs, soaking her panties and tight denim jeans. She unbuttoned Jamie's shirt and felt his chest, every undulation of muscle, firm and even in the cold of the night air, glistening with a gleam of sweat. The beads glistened on his muscles in the similar manner you might see diamonds in a cave, surprising and unsuspected.

Jamie felt her hands on him, and he cupped her jaw with his hand, her breath hot and sweet, her full, pouting pink and swollen lips pressing against his own, a soft feminine contrast to his firm texture of male masculinity. He lifted her black sweater and pink top underneath, her hair spilling over her shoulders, her pink lace bra looking tight on her breasts, crème colored and untouched by the tanning nature of the sun. Perfect, untouched and virginal. He reached around slowly and unhooked the bra, fumbling nervously but Brittany wasn't noticing, she was kissing his neck, breathing in his manly scent, something she could not classify but welcomed all the same. She was released from her bonds which constrained her breasts, both circular and firm in shape, youthful and with soft pink, puffy nipples. Her stomach was flat, toned, but Jamie could see she was nervous, her ribs showing when she breathed in too much and disappearing when she exhaled. He ran a thumb over her bottom lip. She leant into him and then he laid her down onto the slightly itchy blanket, she looked up at him feeling innocent, shy but full of a kind of desire she was worried was going to spill out everywhere if left dormant. He leant in and kiss her slowly, as she used her hands to unbutton his jeans, sliding down the teeth. She felt with her hand the wetness even through his tight underwear, and the sheer length of him. She began to slide them down, and he was so wet that when she felt the glistening head and shaft it was too large and wet to handle. Jamie slid down her panties, slowly and for a moment just pressed on her mound, testing her limits, his shaft against the wet folds, rubbing up and down, not yet inside her. His eyes never left her, and he slowly began to enter, being careful not to hurt her. Her mouth opened in an O shape of both pain and anticipation, mixed with pleasure. He said, "Am I hurting you?" She bit her bottom lip, her eyes shut, her blonde hair tussled from the rocking motion of missionary position. "It's okay. Just don't stop." She said in a breathless voice. She moaned, soft and silently as Jamie pushed deeper into her, her walls well and beginning to contract.

Jamie kept both hands on her face, treasuring the moment with her which had transcended mere sexual gratification and bordered towards the complete desire to be with her for all time, irrespective of where life my take them and where souls head to beyond life itself. Her breasts moved and jiggled as she moved, her heart pounding. She reached up and felt his firm, rock hard abs and strong chest, and she grabbed his sides, pulling her closer to him. She hugged him as they moved together, putting her head on his neck, missing him even though he was already here with her. Jamie looked up at her for a moment, as she contracted, tightening around him with her inner walls, climaxing in tight wet rushes of fluid. Jamie had not yet climaxed, he had been waiting for her to feel it. He was surprised she had done so, as he had heard that most girls do not climax on their first time. His muscles tightened up all over his body, and he began to shoot hot, wet and white liquid inside her, she moaned as she felt each rush of it inside her. Her eyes never left him, her hands on the nape of his neck, her fingers crossed over one another. He felt the softness of her touch, the incredible feeling of electricity from her fingers. Her eyes had that peaceful mauve color, a soft purple shade as well, her button nose looking cute below them. She breathed out in a heavy sigh and gave a soft smile, her eyes now half closed. He leant in and kissed the beautiful blonde underneath him, feeling hot, wet and desperately in love.

"Stay with me." She whispered and they began to move in motion again, for a second time, "It's not hurting you?" Jamie asked. She shook her head and begged him to continue. She needed him with her, perhaps she was just being very much a young girl with dreamlike notions of romance, but at this moment these feelings were all she knew.


	12. In the darkness, between the sheets

Alvin Seville had been staring at the tree for hours, the big Poinciana that sat in Dave's yard, the one he thought looked like something ancient, the last remnant from a prehistoric world. He had done this the day before and was doing it again today, trying to remember when he carved that heart in the tree for Brittany, yet his mind was so muddled everything was a grey mass of incongruous gibberish. He had been so tired that he had fallen asleep on the sharp emerald colored blades of grass in the backyard, which Dave needed to cut very soon as it was getting very long. His suit he had worn for days on end was crumpled, the suit he had worn since the new broke, he been wearing it coming back from a major autograph signing. It was now getting grass stained. He lay with his hands under his head, sleeping in that stereotypical way children sleep, laying on his side. He dreamt a dream which would not be easily forgotten and not made vague and formless through the passages of time. A dream which would remain as lucid many years later as it did while dreaming it.

His dream was one where he was walking the steps of the acropolis, lit gold and the rubble of well worn steps that had been there for centuries. The grand palatial columns were worn also, chipped and had suffered major damage. Sure, one could repair such issues but the age and degradation added to the charm of the structure. The Parthenon sat at the top, a monolith and testament to Greek architectural design. Once this building held fine jewels in the front facade of Amethyst, jade, sapphire and topaz with a few crystals, but they were stolen by British explorers in the more recent past. Alvin found he was wearing his red jumper and lucky red cap, his shirt denoted with a big yellow 'A' which he felt signified being 'Awesome'. He had always told his brothers the 'A' was to differentiate him from them and accentuate his uniqueness, but his brothers just thought he was immensely arrogant. Part of Alvin knew that too, but they didn't doubt his prowess as a capable young man and performer. He could see stage lights behind the golden lit structure of the Parthenon, past the big columns which extended into the lush green rolling forestry of the mountains. The stage lights shone blue, pink, orange and purple. The air was hot and dry, and rolled in thick waves over his body. The wind was without any howling, still present but eerily silent. He could hear the drum beat and saxophone wail of a song he knew all too well, the song which he had performed at this very place. 'Girls Of Rock and Roll'

Statues of naked and muscular male gods sat proud and unaware of their shame, taking poses, some of their veneer chipped off with age and wear. There was a glaring feminine medusa head with coiled pythons for hair, as well as some overweight statues holding stone grapes and food, being entertained by a wiry and goblin like looking half goat, half man figure with a pan flute. He had awful angular and almost devilish features. Alvin found himself climbing to the top of the structure, the big stone platform which was encased by the partially shattered columns, and found a small stone block in the center, a Brittany doll, exactly like the one Klaus and Claudia made him deliver sitting there. She looked pretty, lifeless and wide eyed, her red rouged cheeks, caramel colored hair more of an orange color under the lights and her big blue eyes looked surprised. Her little button nose was slightly pinker and darker than her skin, and her lips were full and pouting, cute and plump. Her little pink outfit and yellow leg warmers. sat slightly baggy on her body and her violet tights were also a little baggy. The lights flashed around him as he went to pick up the doll. As he did, he felt a voice go through his body, but no figure owned it.

"So you are seeking the Chipette they call Brittany?" He asked. He sounded mocking and amused. "Alvin span around, angry, "Alright! Who's there?!" There was nothing. "You cannot see me," The voice said. Alvin couldn't place the voice, it sound like Klaus Furchstein, the man with the thick accent what seemed eastern European. "You better come out!" Alvin growled, "Are you Klaus? Damn it Klaus where did you take her?" The voice laughed, "I am not Klaus. I am merely taking a voice of something you had a conflict with, in the past. To...make things interesting." He laughed heartily to himself, "What you need to concern yourself with you spoiled brat is that she must return to your world. She had crossed over to another world." Alvin's ice blue eyes flashed, "What? What in the hell are you talking about?" The Klaus voice continued, "I can show you, but if you go, you risk never being able to come back to this world. The world you know with your little pathetic brothers and poor excuse for a father." Alvin was fuming, "You take that back. You're just a petty criminal." The voice sounded frustrated, "Again, I am not Klaus. You need to listen. Brittany's survival depends on it."

Alvin clutched the doll and the voice said, "Open the zipper on the back." Alvin lifted up Brittany's little pink top and found a chrome zipper and pulled it down, "What? No diamonds or cash in here?" Alvin reached in and pulled out a sheet of faded yellow A4 paper. "You have a gift Alvin Seville. The gift of crossing between one plain to the next. I want you to lay the paper on the ground and wait." Alvin did so, putting the piece of paper on the ground. It suddenly kicked up in the air, fluttering in an invisible cyclone, breaking into shreds of paper and a white flash of blue and white light appeared, gyrating and pulsating, making humming noises, kind of like a plane's jet engine at idle. "Step into the light." The voice said, "How can I trust you?" Alvin asked wearily. The voice said, "You have no choice."

Brittany and Jamie had returned to the bedroom, and Brittany had been feeling sore. It had been expected, everything she had ever heard about sex from school friends had been right. She guessed inserting anything remotely larger than her own finger would hurt, but it was a pain that made it a little hard to walk. Jamie had wanted to help her onto the bed, but since she was in cartoon form and he couldn't touch her, it was going to be impossible to do that. She winced, her pretty chipmunk face flushed red and her little button nose twitching. Her purple eye shadow laden eyes shut and she climbed into the bed. Occasionally she would open them to look at Jamie who sat on the edge of the bed. She gave a soft smile and her oceanic blue eyes glimmered, "I'll be okay, it just hurt a bit. It felt great but I guess the first time always hurts."

Just ten minutes ago Brittany had felt a burning sensation, running to the bathroom with Jamie escorting her to avoid his mother, and she felt not the need to urinate, but a sharp pain inside herself. She had reached down with her hand and a few droplets of blood touched her fingers, glistening red and with a syrupy consistency. She had suspected it was not such a good idea to have Jamie climax inside her as pregnancy was a very real possibility. She also cringed at the idea of some half breed child that would be interspecies. She had to hope that her bleed had acted as some kind of spermicide. Would she have changed her actions with him? No. It was certain to Brittany Miller that this was something she wanted to do. Her handsome and sweet natured lover was fast becoming the man she had always dreamt of, and Alvin Seville, while she loved him in ways no one could imagine, he was being relegated to the file cabinet of her mind and filed for a later time, perhaps never to be reviewed again as a potential partner.

She lay in Jamie's bed now, as he decided to sit at his desk chair, his hands clasped over one another, looking nervous. He carried the scent of sex and it filled the room, and it made her want to make love again irrespective of the pain, but she knew that she should not try again until she was healed. "I'm sorry I hurt you Brittany." He said simply. She pulled herself up on the bed, resting on the black painted headboard. "Hey, it's alright. It hurts and I want to kick you for it, but I enjoyed it." She smirked at him, "did you enjoy it?" Jamie smiled, "What do you think?" She gave a long and drawn out moan of interest, her voice going as low as it could for a chipmunk and very husky, almost breathless. She teased, "You make me want to touch myself again." Jamie crossed his legs, "The moment you start talking about things like that is the moment you get me turned on as well." He gave a deliberate and labored sigh, "Thanks Britt." He said joking, "Now I'll be pitching a tent all night. It's going to be 'hard' to get to sleep, hah, get it? Huh, huh?" He said poking his elbow into the air by his side. She rolled her eyes, "You're an idiot." She said, her looking very unimpressed. "Still, I could take care of that for you if you want. We don't have to go outside..I can talk dirty or something." Jamie considered, "Sounds interesting, let me just walk over to your bed." He pretended to knock things over his erection, sticking a finger down his jeans and pushing it forward. She giggled and said, "Get over here." They both climbed under Jamie's blanket and even though they couldn't touch, they kept their distance and they could feel the hot breath of the other person touch one another.

"I want to touch you," Brittany purred. "I want to feel your hands on me."

She reached down to the centre of herself, feeling sore but shutting her eyes, overcoming the feeling and placing a digit inside herself, in a small in and out motion. She was wet but she didn't know if it was blood or the first traces of cum. She allowed herself to ignore the pain, concentrating only on the sensation caused. His breath was welcomed on her, and it was the only kind of touch she could have by him at the moment. She could hear his moans, masculine and deep, steady and controlled. Almost primal. She could feel the blanket move as he stroked himself, a long, sharp and fast motion. Suddenly she head the wet sounds of his hands on a cock soaked in precum. This response by him, his arousal towards her made her in turn much more wet, and she found she was so wet she was dripping and saturating her panties. She suddenly began to pant, and the noises were unimaginably exciting to Jamie, who was enjoying this playing around in the hot darkness under the blanket. He could see only outlines of her cute form, and she began to moan and breathe heavily, "Oh god just let me do something." She grabbed a piece of the sheet, "Trust me." And wrapped it around the centre of him. She had figured out how to touch him in this form, creating a separator or buffer with the sheet. She was worried the sheet might soak up the cum and dry him out, making it difficult to stroke him, but he was so wet that it wasn't a problem. She fingered herself, this time entering two fingers and enjoying the now strange mixture of pleasure and pain. "Tell me when you are close." He was close, she felt the throbbing and his moans became slower, yet somehow more urgent. "Uh," He grunted, "Here it comes." She sat back a bit and felt a hot touch of warmth hit her leg. She was surprised because it soaked through to her skin. She guessed it didn't hurt her because it wasn't a direct touch. The second hot explosion hit her on the leg, stomach and her arm, a slight droplet on her chin. _Oh, here's that welcomed feeling.._she thought, moaning and she came right after, her response was perfectly timed, her breath hot, and Jamie saw part of her form, her facial outline in the dark, cast a slight grey as she let out a long sigh from her lips.

"I don't think I could ever get tired of this."

Suddenly there was a thump in the bedroom, and a scream.


	13. Clash of the dashing young men

Brittany and Jamie remained under the blankets. Convinced in the heat of the moment that Jamie's mother had come in and heard the moaning. Jamie decided to investigate, throwing off the blanket and walking over to the source of the noise. His blue bedroom was cast black in the night, the moon full outside and with an entourage of diamond like stars.

Jamie could not believe his eyes. Alvin Seville was getting up, dusting himself off and mumbling something in his scratchy, trademark and high pitched voice. The only thing Jamie look from this first encounter was just how blue Alvin's eyes were, an intense eye blue. When Alvin looked at him, those eyes seemed to burn into his soul. Alvin held up his hands in a warding off gesture, extremely afraid of his real life human in front of him. Sure, in the cartoon world there were humans like Dave and Miss Miller, Miss Stone and many others, but this human looked different. His skin was more detailed, not cell shaded, less bright and less 'pretty'. Alvin looked around the messy teenager's bedroom, at the sea of risqué posters of girls in skimpy bikinis and long haired guys on skateboards doing grinds. Alvin like skateboard and riding his pushbike, and perhaps he could find common ground with Jamie and in some distant universe they would be friends, but this stranger appeared to be the other end of the portal, the one most likely to have Brittany.

"Alright!" Alvin said storming over, hunching his back and bending at an impossible angle. He titled his cap down on his face, signifying he meant business. "Where is she?" He growled. Suddenly the blanket sat upright, the figure underneath pushing it up, "Alvin?!" Brittany exclaimed, more shocked than excited. Alvin turned to the blanket, "Brittany?" He looked at Jamie, then back at the blanket, then back at Jamie. He pushed Jamie out of the way to get to Brittany, but Alvin felt a sudden electric shock, his body fading black and white, and looking like a rough sketch, losing form and coherency, looking more like a preliminary sketch an artist might do at a cartoon design studio. The color faded from his blue eyes, and he went "Ow!" Brittany stepped out, "Alvin? How did you get here?" Alvin was shaking his hand which touched Jamie. It felt like someone had burnt it and then smashed it with a hammer. Brittany's caramel colored hair was tussled, and she carried a scent Alvin couldn't quite place. "What the hell?" Alvin asked no one, thinking of the pain. "I got here by some guy who said he was Klaus but wasn't. Sounds freaky but I dreamt it." He looked at Brittany. Alvin studied Brittany, leaning into her, giving her a displeased look. "Brittany, what is that on your clothes and your face?" He pointed, almost went to touch it and she moved back, "Uh, trust me you don't want to touch that." Suddenly he looked at the pearl colored liquid which appeared to be slowly drying and put two and two together. He had a sick realization, "Oh, yuck!" He put both hands to his mouth, beginning to retch. He saw a steel mesh wastepaper bin by the desk and knelt down next to it, about to vomit cartoon Technicolor on scrunched up pieces of paper. He withheld the feeling and returned to the two figures one cartoon, one strange and real, by the bed. Brittany wiped what was on her chin with a bit of blanket and blushed. "Alvin!" She said in an angry whisper, "Keep your voice down! We aren't the only ones in the house!" Alvin stormed over to her, "I don't care!" He then began to point angrily at Jamie, "What have you been doing with my girlfriend?!" Brittany snatched a black and white t-shirt of Jamie's with a flaming skull head riding a skateboard through what looked like purgatory in hell and said, "Alvin, come here. I need to talk to you." He went to her and in a sweeping motion, she stuffed the t-shirt in his mouth and tied the ends around the back of his head. His eyes went wide and the ice blue flickered shock, anger and contempt. He reached to undo it but Brittany clutched his wrists, "Just shut up and listen please. If you love me just listen you arrogant little jerk." He gave her a look of rage but it subsided after time."

Brittany went on, "I don't know how I came here." She gestured a soft and small crème colored hand to Jamie, "Jamie doesn't know either. "Do you remember when we used to sometimes just 'know' about our fans? Remember that boy we both dreamt of that had our 'Born To Rock' cassette and he had a little brown helmet haircut and that little cute face with the oversized white sunglasses?" She continued, "We dreamt of him and quite a few fans, but he stood out. He was the only dream we both shared." Jamie opened his top draw, and pulled on a laminated pre-school drawing he had done. The drawing was jagged and imperfect, typical of a four year olds drawing, looking nothing like the source subject, depicting Mommy, Daddy, Sis, and Me. The four figures were holding hands around flowers, but there were actual photo cutouts of the family around it. Jamie had a pre-school activity where he had to draw and bring in photos of himself and his family. "Here," Jamie said, handing Brittany the laminate. She smiled, "Here Alvin. Jamie is that boy. Look. The boy who were dreamt about who locked himself in his parent's stereo cabinet with the big black headphones and was listening to 'Girls of Rock and Roll'.

Alvin took the laminated thing, rolling his eyes and murmuring a scratchy sentence under the gag. He looked at the picture and his eyes widened. Alvin knew in that moment it was him. Alvin signaled for them to take the gag off and Brittany leant in with her hands on her hips, talking sarcastically, "You promise you won't scream?" He shook his head, eyes wide. He looked at Brittany with her perfect caramel colored tussled hair, her red rouged cheeks and little button nose that sat below those oceanic blue eyes and with the light purple eye shadow. She removed the gag and instantly he started to scream, so Brittany shoved it back in and pushed it in his mouth, "So much for promising." She continued, "Look Alvin, this is serious." Jamie watched the exchange, his two favorite characters of all time interacting with each other. Brittany said, "You can see it's the boy right? From our dream?" Alvin nodded.

Alvin did remember this boy, waking up in daze one morning and realizing that perhaps this one fan, this child may exist and may not be some fictional creation inherent in a dream. He remembered looking at the boy like a father, seeing him as a sweet and misunderstood young boy who chose his cartoon friends over the real world. An hour had passed and Brittany removed the gag. He pushed a firm finger against her chest and said in a normal voice, "I'm so mad at you Brittany I can never forgive you." He jerked a thumb at Jamie, "You had sex with this creep?" Brittany nodded, sadly and smiling. She didn't regret her sexual congress with Jamie, far from it, but she felt sad she had betrayed Alvin. They were not a couple anymore when she left the cartoon world and came here, but she always felt tied to him. Jamie felt that Alvin and Brittany always would be, and there was a dull ache in his chest, his heart skipping a beat. "I know you don't hate him." Brittany said, "It's that boy we both were so fascinated by from our dream. The one I dreamt wanted to marry me one day and sent out the fake wedding cards after he heard me sing 'I wanna dance with somebody'." Alvin gave Jamie a death stare, "I don't have to like him." Alvin picked up a furry green tennis ball that Jamie played fetch with Drucker the dog and threw it at Jamie, hitting him in the face. Jamie winced a bit and was surprised, but he guessed he deserved it, "Serves you right." Alvin said. "I hope that hurt. If I could touch you without it practically killing me I would choke you to death." Alvin turned to Brittany, "So, Britt. Why can't I touch him and how did you -" He gave a disgusted look, "Have sex with him if we can't touch the people from here?" Brittany looked dreamily at Jamie and that made Alvin angrier. "There are ways around it." She purred.

Alvin threw his hands up in the air, "Well it doesn't matter. It's time for us to go." Alvin pulled Brittany by the hand, heading for the bedroom door. Brittany stood in place, pulling away from him. Alvin turned in shock. He had expected Brittany to go without question, his boyish good looks fixed in a face of extreme sadness. "You love him don't you?" Brittany nodded. Alvin shot around to Jamie and charge at him, screaming so loud it was certain to wake up Jamie's mother, "I'll kill you!" He launched up at Jamie and climbed half up his body, hands on his neck." Alvin began to fade out, ignoring the immense pain, his form fading from solid color to a static like black and white sketch, fading in and out of existence. Jamie felt like he was dying, and he was fading as well. It reminded him of Michael .J. Fox's character in 'Back to the future' fading away at the Enchantment Under The Sea dance when he was finding out he may never be born. Alvin was dying too, but still surprisingly strong, his little fingers digging into Jamie's wind pipe. Jamie felt his breathing become obstructed and the room become completely black as his vision went. Jamie used the last of his strength to uppercut Alvin in the stomach. "Oooof!" Alvin grunted and fell to the floor. Both boys were sprawled over, breathing heavy, Jamie gasping for air and laying down, Alvin in the fetal position clutching his winded stomach.

Brittany sighed, "This is going to be a long night."


	14. Let me count the ways

Alvin Seville, Brittany Miller and Jamie Harrison sat at the orange tiled island in the kitchen, Jamie dimming the lights should his mother walk in and possibly catching them. Moments before she had knocked on Jamie's bedroom door, asking him what was going on in there. "Do you have someone in that room!" She opened the door, Jamie regretting he didn't have a lock and his mother burst in, but like some kind of miracle Brittany and Alvin had darted for the white painted timber refuge of his clothes closet, hidden amongst the sea of rusty coat hangers which dangled overhead like old wind chimes. Brittany had clasped her hand on Alvin's mouth, afraid he would scream, but he had kept his end of the bargain, his ice blue eyes looking tired and worn. He had been hurt quite badly by Jamie's punch to the stomach and subsequent wind being knocked out of him, and the touching of Jamie for such a long period as he choked the life out of him seemed to make Alvin exhausted. "You need to keep your television down." Jamie's mother said, her brown chestnut hair sticking up from erratic sleeping patterns, her face covered in green face cream and her pajamas looking a hideous red satin. Alvin looked through the slats of the timber closet door and a giggle almost escaped him at how silly Jamie's mother looked, but Brittany pinched him harder on the mouth. "Don't you dare." Brittany whispered.

Jamie had been clever. When his mom burst open the bedroom door, hoping to catch her son with a girl and ground him, he had dived for his scuffed black remote for his television turned it on and Spongebob Squarepants came on at a very large volume, the yellow sponge having some kind of chocolate bar sale with his starfish friend, Patrick who wore Hawaiian shorts and was mildly retarded. The brightly colored characters made their way through the underwater world being reprimanded by some very angry and pessimistic squid by the name of Squidward. Occasionally a squirrel in an astronaut or diving outfit would interject. Nothing majorly interesting.

Jamie's mom sighed, "You still watch cartoons at your age. Really Jamie, you have to grow up a little." She walked back out the door, "Goodnight sweetheart." And shut the door.

Alvin burst out of the closet with Brittany, gasping for air, "Man, it stinks in there! Do you ever wash your shirts?" Alvin squealed. Jamie's mom yelled back. "Turn your TV down Jamie! I shouldn't have to ask again! Alvin grabbed his own mouth, eyes wide and embarrassed. He then muttered in a low voice, "Your mom is a pain in the ass." Jamie nodded, "Don't I know it." Alvin paused, "Look, you got any food?" Jamie nodded, "Come with me."

So that's how they got to the little island in the kitchen, their elbows on the orange tiles and having deep discussions into the night. Brittany had poured all three of them a glass of coke in red translucent glasses with little green ice tumblers, and Alvin and Jamie polished off the rest of the Snickers bar bag that was left from the huge timber cupboards behind them in the pantry. Above their heads steel cooking instruments hung, like colanders, sieves, salad and pasta strangers. There was an assortment of ladles, oversized spoons. Jamie's father actually used them more than his mother, as he fancied himself as quite a good cook. He was too. His specialty was Chili and Garlic Prawns on skewers, something Jamie enjoyed immensely. All these random thoughts went through Jamie's mind as he heard Alvin speak, not that interested to listen. He knew Alvin with his boyish good looks, striking blue eyes and charisma would most likely win over Brittany again. He watched as Brittany watched him with a silent adoration, her eyelids fluttering and Jamie realized he had become a third wheel the moment Alvin was introduced into the equation.

"I just need to ask why you did it Brittany." He said, referring to her sexual escapades. Her face looked perfect under the dim golden light of the kitchen, her eyes not their usual blue but that brief hint of mauve that they sometimes lit up as. "It's none of your business _Alvin!" _she said in a soft but sarcastic voice, saying his name in a mocking way, "God, you're such a misogynistic pig to think you own me. Who I choose to sleep with is none of your business." Alvin crossed his arms, "Uh yeah, it kind of is. What about when I carved our names in the tree in my backyard? Does that even mean anything to you?" Brittany looked sad, her button nose sniffling and her eyes shutting, her pretty arched eyebrows showing incredible despair. "It does. It does Alvin. I just can't - I can't go on about it and remind myself it happened because I love you, but I'm in a new relationship and looking back stops me from looking to the future. As weird as that sounds, you are an old romance to me." She worked herself up out of nowhere, "Also, you ended it with me the day you flirted with that fan and promised me no more flirting with the fans. You treat me like an idiot and I'm not. I'm better than you and until you understand that you and I are going nowhere together." Alvin felt powerless, angry so he directed his anger at what he saw was the source of the problem, Jamie. "You did this." He said to Jamie. Jamie shook his head, "Listen dude, it sounds like your relationship with Brittany has been on the rocks. Look, whether you believe it or not, I like you Alvin. You are my childhood hero. The idea that I may have hurt you by sleeping with Brittany is really bothering me. However, as much as you are my hero, I love Brittany and care for her more than I care for you. As cold as that sounds, I have to be honest." Brittany smiled softly at Jamie, "Yeah Alvin. Suck on that!" Alvin gave a dirty look, his arms still crossed and looking away. She put a hand on Alvin's shoulder, "You are an asshole but you are my little asshole. I'll always love you." Alvin looked at her smirking, "Oh, what a term of endearment Britt. I'm your asshole." She began to giggle, "You sure are." Alvin loosened up a little, the expression on his face changing to that boyish devilment he was known for by friends, family and fans around the world. "So are we going to just sit here scratching our butts or figure out how to get home?" Jamie shrugged, "The guy in my dream told me if Brittany makes the crossover she could cease to exist." Jamie felt a pang of emotion in his heart saying those words but they needed to be said. Brittany looked sad and defeated, "What if I don't want to go?" She looked at Jamie and placed her soft little crème colored hand on the countertop of the island. Jamie slid his hand over and put it close, not being able to touch her.

They had all gone upstairs to sleep for the night, Alvin sleepy from the fight with Jamie and the crossover jump from his world to this one. The boyishly handsome blue eyed chipmunk slept on the floor on a white blanket Jamie had taken from the linen closet and provided him with a spare black satin pillow that was kept for guests. Alvin had taken his red full length sweater off with the massive yellow 'A' and Jamie noticed Alvin really was a slightly darker colored Chipmunk than Brittany. He knew this from watching the television series and the 1987 movie 'The Chipmunk Adventure' of the skin color differences between the Chipmunks and Chipettes, but this was a stark and obvious difference. He was in nothing but his white Y trunk underwear, snoring loudly and his little overbite making him look adorable.

Brittany wrapped a t-shirt around her hand from the floor and pulled Jamie over to the bed. "Sleep in here with me." Jamie looked worried at her request. "Brittany, if one of us rolls over at night and we touch, you could fade away. I can't risk that."She pouted as he spoke. "I want to be with you, don't you want to be with me. Hell, I'd want to be with me." She said making a joke. "I do, but it's too dangerous. What about tomorrow night we sneak out and sleep outside when you are in human form. I'll get a blanket and we can snuggle up together." Brittany looked at him, her eyes full of intention, "It's not the same. That girl I turn into, that's not me. This is me, right now. A Chipette. I need you with me and I'm not going to take 'no' for an answer. Jamie got under the blankets, "You sure you want to do this in front of Alvin?" She looked over the rise in the blanket at the blue eyed Chipmunk sleeping in his underwear and considered, "Well we aren't doing anything like that." She turned to Jamie and purred, her voice going breathless and sexual, "But if you want to, I can put my hand on you again."

Jamie stopped, "I have an idea." He slowly pulled down his jeans, leaving on his underwear and said to Brittany, "Come closer." She did so. "Lift your dress." She lifted her pink frilly dress and exposed her panties to him, which were wet. "I don't know if this will hurt, but I want to see where our limit is." Without touching her with his hands, he pressed his hard length against her soft mound, both of them separated by two layers of fabric. Brittany softly moans and shut her eyes, biting her bottom lip. "Are you getting that fading out sensation?" He asked Brittany, "No, no, just keep going."

Brittany Miller was experiencing something she had never known. Sure, by this stage she was no longer a virgin, but what was suddenly apparent to her was the possibility that life without Jamie was a life she couldn't imagine. She loved him with the force of an Elizabeth Barrett Browning poem, a declaration of one's love that must be measured in extravagant and elaborate metaphors.

She felt him, the curved nature of the tip of the head, pressing against her lips even through the fabric, which created a protective buffer and stopped them from experiencing pain. The shaft pushed against her, and made her want to cry out, her clit, wet, pink and swollen, begging to be released from the fabric and make contact with his wetness. She found she came almost instantly, which surprised her. She was wet and soaking so much she did penetrate the fabric. However, there was still not direct contact of skin to skin and Jamie was able to continue his pushing and gyrating motion against her. She studied his eyes, which glimmered a light brown color and flashed a hint of green under the moonlight. He looked primitive, dangerous and like he would ravage her. She liked that. She imagined him as some kind of dark force, a powerful essence of male overt sexuality which deep down in the heat of the moment most girls desperately wanted. He was confident in this moment, going to take without question and make her his, and his alone. She fancied herself an independent girl with a feminist streak, but in this moment she wanted to be submissive, to be dominated. For Jamie to fuck her. As direct as the term may have been, she wanted the sheer sexuality of the situation. She braced herself for a long and enjoyable night ahead.

Their eyes never left each other, the beautiful blue of hers and the intricate brown of his. They were unable to remove their gaze from one another, for fear of doing so signified even a momentary absence which was intolerable for both of them. She longed for his touch, and they reached for each other's hands. Jamie clutched a bit of white bed sheet as a separator or buffer and they touched. She could feel his heartbeat through his fingers and she noticed it was fast. It was conformation to her that his beating heart indicated immense and unadulterated love for her, and her heart soared in return. _How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. _She was reminded once again of that beautiful old poem, written by a woman who truly loved her man, just as Brittany Miller did for Jamie Harrison.


	15. Self Discovery

Brittany had awoke in the morning, and found herself staring at the ceiling. Was she feeling regret about the events of last night? She didn't know. Alvin's presence changed things. She tried her best to ignore his existence here, but here he was like the proverbial thorn in one's side. He was, however, a welcomed thorn at times.

She had looked at Jamie, who was staring out the window, already awake and deep in thought. He had one arm across his chest, propping up his elbow. He was holding his chin and thinking. He watched the morning garbage truck, a steel, rusted and dented behemoth pick up the trash cans and pour them into the large green compactor section. _She's too good for you and you know it _The voice said.

Indeed it was true. He felt like by bedding her he had tainted her, made her have her first time with someone it shouldn't have been with. He was a mess of a human being, and his presence in her life would only clutter hers. She was Brittany Miller, confident, full of spirit, fiercely independent and very much one who walks her own path, but Brittany had become unlike Brittany since he had been with her. He wondered if he actually would make her worse if he stayed with her.

He looked over at Alvin, who was asleep on the floor, scratching a subconscious itch on his stomach, his legs sprawled outwards. He had betrayed someone he looked up to, and instead of sleeping in the bed with Brittany, he was sleeping on the floor. Jamie could never forgive himself for this.

He knew what to do, it had become as simple as watching the sun rise or turning on the television. He had walked to his mom's medicine cabinet, full of an assortment of various colored cylinders with prescription stickers on them, and found some Diazepam tablets, also known as Valium. His mother was a jittery flier and when she had to fly for family occasions she two took valium. Jamie unscrewed the translucent orange cylinder, removing the white cap and finding at least ten valium in there. Her mother was allowed 20 x 2mg tablets per year maximum by her doctor, and Jamie suspected to do what he needed to do, that would be enough. He lay on the cold tile floor of the bathroom, legs apart staring into space as he dry swallowed every little powdery tasting, white circular pill and within thirty to forty minutes, the bathroom tiles turned from colored to grey, his vision fading and his head bobbing.

The air felt hot. He didn't know why because it was always cold in his house and somehow ten to fifteen degrees colder in the bathroom. He was overdosing, knowing that taking the pills would cause it, but not really aware of the effects. He felt like he was burning up, and he felt like he was fading in and out of existence. For any other individual who overdosed, the ending result would be instant death, but for Jamie, due to whatever special abilities he possessed, he was transported to another realm. It was not the diner he had visited with Ryan Gosling, but Mr. Gosling were there, dressed in a simple white polo shirt and bootcut jeans, black leather combat boots and sitting on a park bench in a seemingly endless white void. Jamie felt like he was in a bad parody of _The Matrix _but he went along with it. Ryan greeted him and gestured for him to take a seat. "I guess you have come to a realization, kid." Jamie nodded, surprised at how alive he felt when in reality he was dying of an overdose in the family bathroom. "I came here Mr. Gosling to help Brittany and Alvin." Ryan gave a soft smile and patted him on the back. Jamie didn't know if he was being patronizing or not, but he decided to listen. He didn't know how long his dying body would allow him to stay here before all his senses and mind shut down. "Well done kid! Look, you didn't need to go so drastic with the pills, but I understand you intention." Ryan picked up a can of coke, red and white shiny aluminum can, "Want a coke?" Jamie shook his head, "No, I uh am fine thanks." Jamie watched as Ryan studied the can like it was a fine piece of undiscovered and rare treasure never before unearthed. "This is no ordinary can kid. This is the can that started it all isn't it? When those girls poured the coke all over you and your art book." He continued, "Let me tell you something. You think the reason you get picked on is because of your appearance. You blame others and make excuses for your bullying. Yes, no one should bully another person, but you say it's because you have dark hair and dark eyes in a place where by and large there aren't many people like that. What a stupid comment to make."

Jamie went to open his mouth but the figure who wasn't really Ryan Gosling but took his form continued, "Think about kids from other countries who come and start school. A black kid in an all white school. A gay kid in a school full of judgmental homophobes and you are going on about something as petty as your hair and eye color? The reason you are alone Jamie is your attitude, not how you look. You get picked on by the guys at school because you act like an outcast. Believe it or not some of the girls like you at school but don't know how to handle it and respond by teasing you, wanting you to think that they couldn't ever like you."

Jamie went to speak and Ryan held up his hand signaling him to keep quiet.

"You're not an ugly kid Jamie but your character is ugly. That's why people don't like you. You are so full jealously, venom and hate." He pointed to his own chest while holding the can, the sound of the brown fizzy liquid lapping against the can, "You are jealous of Ryan Gosling, what for? What because he has lighter features and you think that's what get's girls or popularity? What gets those things is a good heart. If you cannot see that then you truly are a fool. Now Brittany likes you, I don't know why, but she does. Normally she wouldn't give a guy like you a chance, but for some reason she has. I suspect it's because you are a 'project' to her. She can try and fix you. It's not love though, it never was. She needs to be someone who is sure of themselves and the only person who fits that description is Alvin Seville."

Jamie looked straight ahead, "You're telling me what I already know. I know there are some difficulties in bringing Brittany back to her own world, but can I sacrifice myself to ensure safe passage for her?" Ryan paused, almost dropping his can, his blue eyes flashing shock and amazement. "You'd really do that kid? Well, for the first time in your life you are doing something unselfish." Jamie paused, "Another thing. I don't want her to remember me. I don't want her to feel like she missed out on being with Alvin and feeling tainted. If you can promise me that, whatever supernatural being you are, you can take me."

Jamie held out his wrists. "Go for it." Ryan laughed, "I'm not going to kill you kid. All I need is a demonstration of your willingness to co-operate."

Jamie looked at him puzzled, "But what about the story you told me of the other fictional character who didn't make the crossover?" Ryan sipped from the can of coke, "Simple. The boy didn't want to give her up and if the crossover isn't voluntary then there is issues. What I told you before, they made physical contact as a human and cartoon form. She disappeared."

Jamie considered, "But how do I get her to agree to return to her world?"Ryan sat, swirling the can, deliberately buying time, enjoying making this kid squirm. He didn't dislike Jamie, far from it, but he didn't like Jamie's attitude at times. "Two ways. You could insult her and make her have no choice but to leave with Alvin out of sheer hurt or you could just be honest with her. You aren't right for her."

Ryan got up from the park bench, an ornamental Art Nouveau bench that would be more at home in France. It was made of swirling iron, looking grandiose and the only object in this white space around them. "Good luck kid." Jamie stopped, "Wait? I've overdosed. How do I tell Brittany if I'm dying?" Ryan considered, "You won't be because you are being helped my Alvin right now." Ryan snapped his fingers and Jamie was brought back into the real world.

Jamie woke up, and found himself feeling hot and cold all at once. He could see outside his own body, watching Brittany watching with her hands to her pretty face as Alvin placed a palm and upright thumb just under Jamie's sternum where the diaphragm is. Jamie was too heavy for Alvin to pick up and do the standard Heimlich Maneuver so he straddled Jamie's chest, pushing hard, "Come on." Alvin grunted as Brittany gasped. Jamie's face was completely blue, his eyes shut and purple bruises in arc shapes under his eyes, his brow covered in sweat, his long but styled hair in black tendrils on his face. His lips were white and Alvin gave one final push. Jamie kept flashing back between the white space world with Ryan Gosling and the real world. Ryan was looking him dead in the in eye and making clapping gestures with his hands, "Breathe! Breathe! Breathe!" He said. Jamie looked at him confused, almost as if he was forgetting that he was being resuscitated.

Suddenly Jamie awoke in the real world with a gasp for air, his lungs burning, laying on his side, the series of pills that were once in his stomach now in a pool of clear glistening liquid on the floor. Alvin put a hand on Jamie's brow, "He is burning up." He said to Brittany. Jamie made to speak, and Alvin knelt down by him, "Save your strength." Jamie clutched and grabbed at Alvin's red sweater his knuckles white and swollen. "Take her." Jamie said, "Take her back." She paused, "What why?" She looked at him, her doll like face sad and confused. "I saw my guide in the dream. He told me you can go back and I will still be able to see you again, but he wants you to cross into the cartoon world first." He lied, "I will see you in a few days Brittany, but he wants you to go just so it doesn't upset the balance." Jamie hated lying but he knew it was best for Brittany. She began to sob, tears streaming down her cheeks. "Alright." She said. "But are you sure we should leave you like this? I mean you just took a whole prescription of valium." Jamie nodded, pale and smiling, "Yeah. I'll be fine. The guide said my life is secured. He also said yours is too Brittany." He wasn't lying there. "As is yours Alvin. Just crossover and I'll meet you there."

A white light appeared in the bathroom, flashing and pulsating, surrounded by a frame of light blue light. Brittany looked at him. Jamie titled his head for her to go and mouthed the words. She held out a hand to him as she kept looking at him, backing into the portal. She suddenly began to become consumed by the light, and disappeared slowly, her form becoming color and cell shaded, then a black and white sketch, then a faded and formless white vapor. Alvin went to follow her in and stopped, looking at Jamie who was getting up from the floor slowly, clutching his sore chest and burning intestines. "You aren't going to be able to come are you?" Alvin asked. Jamie nodded, "No. Look Alvin," Jamie went over. "I'm so sorry. I know that doesn't mean much, but you were both my heroes growing up. I have done the wrong thing. Yes, I love her but she's meant to be with you." Alvin paused, staring him down through slitted eyes, "What you did to her can't be reversed." Jamie nodded and shut his eyes. "I know." Jamie said, sounding defeated.

Alvin stepped through the portal, turning from his colored cell shaded self to his black and white sketched form, and then finally a white vapor. With a blinding flash and whoosh of cold air the portal shut, knocking Jamie over. He landed on his butt and was left alone, to his own devices.


	16. New Found Arrogance

ONE YEAR LATER:

Jamie Harrison was very different now. His time spent with Brittany had made him a better man, exponentially. The girls had noticed this change at school. He didn't walk with such a downtrodden posture, he slicked his hair back, maintained his clothes and when they got too worn he bought new ones. He still rode his skateboard - well, a new skateboard since he lost his old one that night running for his life with Brittany - but he actually started attending all his classes, doing his homework and studying. He was already a handsome kid, but he was growing into a real stunner. He had medium length, slicked dark hair, that was slightly tussled at the front. His eyes were almost Eurasian, his nose strong and straight, his teeth perfectly white and straight also. He had a strong chin, and he had started lifting light weights and was looking very well proportioned in a tight shirt. He was getting along better with his mother and father, learning to cook with his father and every Friday after school taking his mother to the movies, letting her pick the movie. If there wasn't anything she wanted to see, he would take her out for coffee and just spend quality time with her. He had gotten a summer job before he turned seventeen working every day except public holidays mowing lawns and stocking shelves at the local supermarket, and saved up quite a fair bit of money. He bought an old, battered and white Dodge Charger V8 with a muscular body and some slight rust and dents along the left side. It was insanely loud with its glass pack exhaust and extractors, and it had very fat and wide Firestone Tires on it. Even had black furry dice with white dots hanging from his mirror and a little Tom Brady NFL Series bobble head.

He told himself that whenever he thought of Brittany that he must shut off those feelings. For the first few weeks after he had said goodbye to her he had opened an art book and found words from her.

**When are you coming?**

To which he kept his word to Alvin and stayed away. He said nothing. Weeks passed and a sketched black and white rose lay next to the words:

**I miss you. Please speak to me soon.**

More weeks passed and the messages changed. There was an eye with a teardrop sketched on the page and a heart with fracture lines down the centre.

**You're really hurting me you jerk.**

Months passed and he got the final message.

**I just wanted you to know I'm over you. I cannot believe you used me just for sex. You are a complete pig. Alvin was right about you. Just so you know, Alvin proposed to me yesterday and I want you to know that I've never been happier and when I look back on the stupid mistakes in my life, you were one of them. **

**Goodbye.**

Jamie read the note and cried, spending the day in his bedroom listening to sappy 80s and 90s love songs and huddling in a fetal position on his bed, but when the tears had come in the grey darkness of his room, the blinds down to hide himself from the world, he woke the next morning, lifted the blinds, wiped his tears and changed his life.

He still loved Brittany and he used her words about being brave and confident as rules to live by. He hadn't made friends with the school jocks, but Jamie had joined the school Swim Team and made it to the state championships coming 2nd. He even started enjoying Ryan Gosling movies and he had gone on a few dates. He had then contacted Sarah Bennett and she didn't remember him, but he explained he was the boy at the mall who had asked her out, out of the blue and she agreed to meet him. They were in a steady relationship and in his own way Jamie loved her, but Brittany remained in his mind, like a splinter or something unresolved, a recurring issue that caused him to feel incomplete until it was resolved.

Sarah with her dirty blonde hair that was surprisingly sexy, grayish blue eyes and incredibly bubbly demeanor sat in the passenger's seat of the Charger, the motor sounding like a predatory animal as the 1970's muscle car moved through the streets. It was late afternoon, the reflection of the plane trees above them showing on the polished paint of the hood. "You know, I never asked who that girl was who was with you that day you asked me out at the mall. Was she your ex?" Jamie clenched the wheel and looked ahead, "I guess you could say that." Sarah leaned in and looked jealous, "She was so pretty." She began, "Why did you ask me out if you were with her?" Jamie showed no emotion, "It was an on off relationship. We weren't really together then, I guess you could say we were just friends." Sarah looked relieved, "I also need to ask, you and her didn't..." She was referring to something Jamie knew was sexual in content. Jamie drove up a very steep hill and the motor growled as it climbed, the setting orange sun making a daydream like haze over the streets, turning the parked cars by the side of the road into shiny metallic mirrors.

"Yes." Jamie said simply. She gestured with his hands for him to elaborate, "And?" He glanced over at her briefly, "Nothing else more to say. It was a relationship and it ended. Nice girl, but it didn't work out." Jamie's mind flashed to the night of the overdose, his skin blue. He looked much younger then. He kept seeing the caramel colored haired doll with blue eyes, a button nose and flushed red cheeks reaching out for him as she walked backwards to that bluish white pulsating portal.

Sarah knew that this was a topic that Jamie would not discuss, but she tried. He was very different to the day she had met him. He was so shy, vulnerable and sweet, pretending to be confident. She went along with it that day as to not embarrass him. She could still see that side, but only traces of it. He was a confident, very arrogant yet somehow well mannered jock and also star pupil at his school. She attended Paradise Falls West so she didn't go to school with him, but even the girls at school knew about Jamie Harrison. He had become something of a very popular sex symbol. He had his hotted up car, his biceps and his smoldering gaze, his strong chin and that self-assurance that reminded girls that he knew who he was and didn't need them to fix him. He didn't hang with the jocks, but he may as well. He was the school mascot at Paradise Falls and Sarah was surprised that the town hadn't erected a statue of him in his honor. No doubt Jamie would be happy with that. However, despite his arrogance, he was amazingly sweet when he kissed and touched her. He was careful, thoughtful, yet somehow exuded a masculine strength that made her feel like the quintessential woman. He didn't really make out with her, he returned her home the moment it was 10:00pm at night as per her father's wishes. Hell, he even spent Sundays watching the game with her dad and chatting about what the quarterback should do and how good or bad the coaches plays were.

Jamie pulled the car to a stop at the front of the curb to where Sarah lived. She lived in a beautiful peach colored Spanish home with a red terracotta roof and a black wrought iron gate that blocked off the yard from the street. Sarah was quite well off financially with an upper class family and her garden had a grey multi-tiered fountain, perfectly cut green hedges and a series of expensive cars in the drive, a black Corvette ZR1 and a cherry red Ferrari 355 convertible, custom painted from Italy. The cement render on the house was applied in deliberately uneven 1970's style rendering with bumps and levels, and it somehow made the house look more exotic. "Tell your dad I said 'Hi' and thanks for a nice day out." He leant in and kissed her. He then opened his door and walked around to the other side of the Charger, letting his lady out. He walked her to the front door and as he walked off he span his keyring on his index finger, a black 8 ball attached to the keyring and a black leather key fob which read 'I'm #1'.

Sarah looked at him and felt confused. She loved him but he was so distant, so arrogant. Nothing like the boy she had met that day. Something had changed him and she wanted to know why.


	17. Based on love and hate

Brittany Miller had never felt so alive. She had erased all ties to the past, allowing herself to start again. She had her 'first time' with Alvin Seville, and it was everything she had hoped for. He had left her wanting more of him, his uncanny ability to command respect from others seemed to translate in the bedroom in a strangely erotic and dominant way. This was interesting for Brittany because she generally did not allow an individual to dominate her. She had met Alvin with the same intensity and dominance, and the end result was a battle of sexual prowess in which one tried to outdo the other in an attempt to create an intense orgasm for the other. She found herself clutching to him in those moments, trying to dominate him, laden in sweat, her hair messed and without any composure, her makeup running. He was grunting as he moved with her, allowing himself to completely take any liberties with her he wanted. The white bed sheets were always crumpled, nails were dug into each other's skin, with the odd and unexpected drawing of blood. Even though this occurred, they continued through the pain.

Her experience with Jamie seemed more disjointed, yet still at some level romantic. His vulnerability, his deep nature allowed him to be more gentle with her, more considerate and he was a very different lover to Alvin. Brittany a year ago would have seen these qualities are endearing, but now she saw them as a weakness.

When she looked in the mirror she saw a different person, although she looked no different from her younger self a year ago. It was her eyes, which were different. More full of life, the spark reignited yet at the same time she suffered no fools. She was no longer a young girl with the desire to seek men who seemed mysterious and dark with an inner soul that must be uncovered and tamed. She thought those men now were complete and utter idiots.

And here was Alvin, spending more time preening himself in the mirror than see did, checking his fuzz of hair, his ice blue eyes going over his reflection meticulously, yet Alvin was in no way insecure. He saw an Adonis looking back at him and would think anyone who didn't see the same was a moron. He had taken to wearing many high class suits, designer ties and Italian shoes, and always a pair of silver Aviator shades over his amazing eyes.

He was a complex study of arrogance, hidden intelligence and a brief sensitivity that only she and a few people saw.

He had proposed to her and they had moved into a small penthouse apartment by celebrity standards, a Victorian Era apartment with a beautiful ornate ceiling covered in cherubs shooting bow and arrows. The cornices were beautifully ornamental, the floors a rich black mahogany. Alvin had his 60 inch LCD jet black JVC television in the lounge room with Bose adult length speakers, and a Prix limited edition subwoofer, a beast of an object with a black mesh speaker with silver reverberation cones inside it. Brittany had decorated the kitchen in a soft pink subway tile, and the center bench/island was a soft pink as well. They had a stainless steel double door fridge, some custom made one from Germany that had two ice dispenser vents and it was always stocked with cans of coke, chocolate and salsa for Alvin's favorite corn chips. He couldn't get enough of Spicy Salsa Picante and Mexicana Doritos Corn Chips.

Alvin wasn't much of a gamer, but when he was, he made sure he went all out. From the original Nintendo, to the Super Nintendo, Nintendo 64, Nintendo GameCube, Nintendo Wii and the brand new Wii U, Alvin had every Nintendo and he was very much into sports related games and the guitar hero series. He could be seen getting 100% scores different songs. Most of the time however, he played baseball, soccer and NFL games. Every Sunday Alvin commanded the TV with his jock buddies from high school, who were envious at Alvin living away from his parent(s) at such a young age when they still lived with theirs.

Alvin radiated success. He had his own music room with gold platinum records in glass and timber framed cases, he had his own mixing studio and a big metallic red iMac computer with a built in studio microphone and guitar lead hook up. He had been working on some albums that were less pop lately, and even just some instrumental metal based albums to show off his guitar skills. In the apartment's garage he had a dark black Pontiac SS with black metallic wheels, tinted windows and four chrome tipped exhausts. Brittany hated being inside it because the sound of the 6 liter V8 pushrod motor with its supercharger made it hard to make conversation or listen to music with the radio.

Brittany had her maid, a beautiful looking blonde Swedish woman who looked a lot like Scarlett Johansson was cooking something in the $200,000 dollar professionally fitted chef's kitchen and it carried the scent of a vegetable stir fry. Brittany could smell soy, oyster and fish sauce bubbling in an intoxicating scent. Alvin was leaning on the island, talking confidently to Inga, the maid who was cooking. He was regaling her with one of his many stories of personal success, "So that's pretty much how I got certified 20x platinum. I pity Justin Bieber. Usher, now he wasn't even a threat." Inga asked in a thick accent, "What about Michael Jackson?" Alvin's eyes flickered a brief moment of sadness at his lost idol who had passed away, "I'm willing to say this, Michael was my hero and yeah he gave me a tough time sales wise. I mean 50 million units for 'Thriller' and 70 million by the year 2000? He's epic."

Inga stirred the assortment of green broccoli that looked like miniature trees and carrots in the syrupy black sauce that had pieces of bright red and green chili, and then checked the boiling rice in the oval shaped silver pot she had. "And how is the new album coming?" She asked the handsome chipmunk. Alvin walked over to her side of the island, blatantly flirting, crossing his arms and one leg over the other. He tilted down his silver Aviator shades and showed her his striking eyes. "Let's just say expect to see me on the cover of 'Rolling Stone' and the words 'Artist of the Century'. He panned out his hands in a sweeping gesture as he said the words 'Artist of the Century'. Brittany leaned next to him, grabbing some of the uncooked pieces of Broccoli and absent mindedly chewing it. She was taking a special diet to slim down for summer, and this meant replacing her beloved chocolate triple fudge sundaes with nature's goodness. Even though it tasted like acid in her mouth. "Not if I beat you there first," Brittany said smirking at him, "You really are a loser Alvin if you think you are going to get that award." She gave him a _bitch please _look, a look of self-assurance and pity towards him. "You know it's going to be me that gets the award. I just don't know if you will able to handle your future wife being better than you, but you seem to be able to be handling it alright now, with your illusions of grandeur keeping you warm at night."

He shook his head smiling, "Poor Brittany, gone off the meds have we? Either that or the doctors need to up the dosage."

Brittany smiled. Everything was alright in her world. She was with her sweetheart, the one she fought with but loved doing so. They meshed together so well, and Jamie was just a distant memory, a bad choice relegated to the past.


	18. Friends, Favours and not much time

Jennifer Bright had allowed the past year to take its course, biding her time. She had chased Jamie and that mystery blonde that night, desperately wanting to kill the woman and then eventually end her obsession with Jamie by killing him too. Her mind told her it was the only way to stop the aching in her head. She sat in front of her mirror, a turn of the century oval shaped mirror, and it showed her reflection and her bedroom, the walls covered in writing she had written on white walls in red permanent marker. Her parents were too scared of her to control her, and she had turned her room into a strange testament to her insanity. She sat in front of the mirror naked, with a pink Gillette double blade Razor and began to slice the tops of her thighs, shutting her eyes and enjoying the searing, sharp pain. purple, thick and syrup like blood trickled down her thighs. Her room was dimly lit, and she had an assortment of small kitchen knives on her black bedspread. Her white 1980's Sharp cassette player had been covered in house paint when her parents listened to music while painting the house a few years back, and the paint was an sea green color. She was playing some kind of very eerie song by Alphaville called 'Forever Young'. She loved the 80s music that seemed to have emotional gravitas. She listened to so much of 'The Cure' it should have been made illegal. She decided it was time to up the ante, so to speak, and she ran the razor along her youthful brow, making a red line that took a while to bleed and when it did, it trickled down over her eyelids and made her feel warm and aroused.

The writing on her walls was a vague mess of unrelated words, some coherent sentences but not many. In her painted black timber cupboard was a cat she had neglected to feed, a tabby with a skeletal body, the eyes somehow still there and glassy. She had locked it in the cupboard, despite its meows of protestation and she relished the moment when the meowing went silent, because she knew she had broken that cat's spirit or possibly it had died from starvation. She had hoped it was the former, because she wanted to spread her emotional misery around.

Sometimes she looked at cracks in the tiles in her family bathroom, and wondered what it might be like to live in there, or what it would be like to be miniscule, watching the world as an ant, her travels taking her over the grass and leaves, watching misery as she went by from a crying kidnapped child, to a man with a tinted glass van and bad intentions, right up to a suspicious looking cellar in some strange individuals home with things kept in glass jars. She would crawl in that ant form, watching all these tragedies taking place. She could do that for centuries, and never get bored of what she had seen.

She walked to her bed, in a bloodied daze, the peroxide blonde psychopath looking pale in skin color, her body shuffling like a zombie to her assortment of kitchen knives. The song switched over and it was something by Jimmi Sommerville, a high pitched falsetto song about running away. He was in a band at the time called 'Bronski Beat', and it was one of Jennifer's favorite songs for her escapism from the world.

She took the smallest knife from the set which rested on a black vinyl pack that held the knives in place and then sat down at her chair again, looking in the mirror.

She was everything and nothing. She knew that the universe revolved around her and therefore, she must govern its course like a loving parent. She understood her tremendous role, and that the cutting of the knife was her ceremonial rite of passage she needed to undertake to assume the mantle of queen of the universe. Her lights in the bedroom seemed to hurt her head, they were bright yellow and burning into her retina, the blood dripping past them looking purple in the light, and the sensory overload was making her lose composure. She mumbled to herself, and suddenly she was repeating what she had written many times over her bedroom walls.

_**I dreamt a dream which is therefore unknown to others because it remains just that, a dream. Something untold. I may now tell the dream for the benefit of clarity to those around me.**_

_**The dream was too bright and those lights were people. They were lighting up the world with their beauty and they must be extinguished because too much beauty makes some people jealous. It makes some people question themselves and their own beauty, and therefore the beautiful people who are just too perfect must be removed in order to preserve the balance. **_

**_I see trees with apples on them, too shiny and they hurt my eyes. I understand why they must be picked and I see animals in the fields and understand why the farmer wields the shotgun and lays the traps. Just like these scenarios I must extinguish and remove people to preserve the balance._ **

She began to cut her bottom lip, it splitting open like a butterfly's wings moving out and chunks of bed gelatinous meat and blood spilled out. She began to tremble from blood loss and her face of average to slight good looks looked like a pale death mask. She had black, dark rings under her eyes and she began to smile. She had bloodied teeth from the torn mouth and she began to stab the muscle in her thighs to the music, laughing as she saw a white and blue portal open up in front of her. For once this psychotic girl's hallucinations were not so insane. Had any sane outsider witnessed what Jennifer bright was seeing, they would concur that Jennifer had somehow accessed a portal to another world.

Gosling sat on the bench in the white space. He was dressed this time in a tight, white muscle shirt and designer jeans. He had his hair slicked back and he had his hand to his chin. He had just saw the same insane blonde who had made Jamie Harrison's life miserable cross over to the cartoon world. She was stepping through the whitish blue, pulsating and reverberating light in her bedroom mirror and crossing over, her form fading and she was becoming a cell shaded animation.

"What are you doing you crazy bitch?" Ryan asked himself. He decided to travel back to ask who would be called the overseer of the border between the real world and the cartoon world. He was a very handsome African American man with a beautiful smile and purple suit with bright yellow tie with a four leaf clover print on it. He wore white topped 1930's black doc martin shoes and he carried a fatherly aura.

Ryan had arrived in his office, a beautiful Art Deco 1930's office full of pewter colored Greek gods holding up the earth in their hands. There was lots of chrome, all the table edges weren't really edges since they were rounded off, and the office radiated depression era Humphrey Bogart detective noire. It was richly appointed, there was a beautiful gold rimmed cylindrical yellow lamp on the desk, lighting up a leather bound book the Overseer wrote in. He kept notes about all the universe in there, and it was an illusion. It was millions of pages long with records, yet it somehow there was always a fresh page. The roof was slightly rounded, and the window behind him had yellow brick framing and was fashioned in a downwards half circle shape, like a big frown. A beautiful old gramophone played a song by Fred Astaire, something about feeling on air and being fancy free.

"So, looks like you have a problem?" Ryan took a seat. He knew the Overseer well. They were great friends, but he never came into his office for a social call. Office appointments or just barging in meant something serious. No one ever came just for a friendly chat. "I do Overseer." Ryan began, "Jennifer Bright crossed the threshold." The handsome black man had his hands crossed in front his face, shadows from the lamp casting reflections on his face and made him look almost like a regal old statue. "Oh, I know this but what do you want me to do?" Ryan leant in, polite but serious, "I need you to step in. She is extremely dangerous." The overseer sat for a moment and then finally replied, "In what capacity?"

Ryan felt hot in the office and fluffed the neckline of his white muscle shirt, "Damn its hot in here. Haven't you ever heard of air conditioning?" The Overseer just looked at him. Ryan continued, knowing not to waste his time. He was indeed, a busy man. "In what capacity? Well, she tried to kill Jamie and she is a textbook Sociopath. She knows that Jamie has an attraction to Brittany Miller from viewing his art book, should she by chance fall into the cartoon world she will most likely attack Brittany Miller. The flow on effect from killing a cartoon character could be devastating not just for that world but for the real world." The Overseer nodded, "I see, but what do you want me to do?" Ryan looked at him directly, "I want you to act. I'm only one man and I don't have your powers." The Overseer laughed, "You know I have to be neutral. Even if it means the complete destruction of the border between the two worlds, I must sit and be an watcher." Ryan gave a look of disgust, "What good is it being the boss if you don't make the hard decisions?" He asked him. Ryan got up from the chair, "If you aren't going to help me then I guess you aren't as competent as I thought."

The Overseer's eyes flashed rage. He gestured a masculine and thick black hand, "Sit down." He said, trying to keep calm. Ryan stared at him, "Sit down!" He yelled. Ryan did, but reluctantly, keeping his look of defiance on his perfect All American face. Ryan's blue eyes flashed deep emotion. The Overseer pressed a button on a rich walnut covered intercom system with a gold mesh speaker, reflecting the sheer opulence of 1930's design and called someone inside. "Come in Jessica."

There she was, fiery orange hair, a glittery red strapless dress that looked like it was made of rubies and diamonds, and the longest legs Ryan had ever seen. Who was this gorgeous thing and why did he come into his life only now? She had one eye covered by her shiny, wavy and glistening hair and the other eye was framed by purple eye shadow and a curious arched eyebrow. She had a swelling bosom and her body was the perfect dimensions that would be considered desirable. She had deep purple long sleeve gloves on, and she walked with her hips swaying from side to side.

"Ryan, meet Jessica Rabbit. She's the guardian of the West Quadrant where Jennifer Bright has come through. She will be working with you." She sauntered towards him, hand extended.

_I hope she's not spoken for, _Ryan thought.


	19. Lost in the crowd

Chapter deleted out of respect for other members. I did not realize what I did. I am very sorry. Story finished.


End file.
